Baha’i Perspectives

nadim July 31st, 2008

This video is another gem from DoubleTake.tv, a site that contains a growing collection of short Baha’i-inspired documentaries. Watch how an innovative “white bloke” living on the island of Vanuatu rolls up his sleeves and gets down to finding a homegrown solution to the problem of rising fuel prices.

Finished watching?

Let’s reflect for a moment on the video and then turn our thoughts towards the bigger picture…

The Biofuel Conundrum

Biofuel production is without doubt one hot topic these days. It provokes an entire spectrum of opinions from advocates and critics alike. Having initially been devised as a mechanism to reduce the world’s dependence on crude oil, the mass production of biofuel using food crops has precipitated another crisis — in the form of rocketing food prices and increased global famine. What are the possible reasons for this wretched situation? Was this outcome inevitable, or was it somehow avoidable?

Being a regular user of public transport, I’ve had to endure yet another rise in the base taxi fare, as well as a significant price rise for bus tickets, all in the past month. Clearly, biofuels haven’t lowered fuel prices — not for me anyway — and the trip over to the local grocery store is becoming more and more of a nervous window-shopping experience. So what exactly has gone wrong?

As usual, I dive into the World Wide Web to try and figure things out. A Time magazine article, Solving the Biofuels vs. Food Problem, points out that in 2006 alone the U.S. produced 4.86 billion gallons of corn ethanol. That sounds like a lot, but what does it really mean? Well, United Nations expert Jean Ziegler, explains that it takes the same amount of corn to produce 13 gallons of ethanol as it does to feed a child for one year. Divide 4.86 billion by 13 and we have 374 million starving children who could have been fed, all by a single country!! And this was back in 2006 — I can only imagine the numbers would have shot up by now. Ziegler, clearly exasperated by this situation, goes on to comment:

…the effect of transforming hundreds and hundreds of thousands of tons of maize, of wheat, of beans, of palm oil, into agricultural fuel is absolutely catastrophic for the hungry people… So it’s a crime against humanity… What has to be stopped is… the growing catastrophe of the massacre (by) hunger in the world.

Based on this statistic alone, it would take a foolhardy person to reject Ziegler’s statement outright.

When Baha’u'llah, Prophet Founder of the Baha’i Faith, pronounced that the prevailing world order is “lamentably defective”, need we look any further for proof?

Couldn’t They Have Waited?

Both Ziegler and the author of the Time article state that non-food alternatives for biofuel, such as switchgrass (which is energy-efficient) and Jatropha shrubs (which grow well on poor land), are only a few years away from becoming viable for mass production. The Science Blog reports on an even more promising alternative, a grass called Miscanthus. Why then, do the economically advantaged countries not wait a little while longer? Surely it should be obvious that all this excess corn can quite easily feed the world’s hungry population. Why do these countries ruthlessly trade human lives in order for their citizens to drive a few extra miles on the highway?

In the masterpiece entitled Century of Light, which examines the successes and failures of the 20th century, the The Universal House of Justice explains:

Tragically, what Bahá’ís see in present-day society is unbridled exploitation of the masses of humanity by greed that excuses itself as the operation of “impersonal market forces”… What they find themselves struggling against daily is the pressure of a dogmatic materialism, claiming to be the voice of “science”, that seeks systematically to exclude from intellectual life all impulses arising from the spiritual level of human consciousness.

(Commissioned by The Universal House of Justice, Century of Light, p. 137)

This captures, in essence, what Baha’is believe to be the root cause of humanity’s ills. What is completely disregarded by our present economic and political systems are those universal spiritual qualities spoken of in the Holy Books of the world’s religions — justice, honesty, trustworthiness, generosity, love of one’s neighbour and so on. Indeed, it is puzzling to observe how these guiding principles, which govern the behaviour of righteous individuals across just about every society, are conveniently swept under the rug in debates on international policy.

Having said this, individual transformation, although vital, is alone not enough. It is becoming increasingly urgent for nations to acknowledge that they belong to a single common homeland known as planet Earth, and that the good of the whole can never be achieved without sincerely seeking the best for each and every part. This implies moving from a culture of competition for natural resources towards one of collaboration. The implications of this change of thinking would be nothing short of revolutionary, and revolution, it seems, is precisely what is needed.

Sure, it is easy to pass this off as some fanciful notion and continue seeking the latest popular explanation as to why our world systems are just so volatile. Commonly-heard phrases like “economic downturn”, “instability in the Middle East”, “rising interest rates”, “loss of investor confidence”, “farm subsidies” are forever making the rounds in the media, and people blindly accept these for the very reason that they are impersonal. These phrases, in my opinion, are comfortable to accept because they do not challenge the status quo. They do not challenge ingrained patterns of human and societal behaviour. Instead, all they do is mask the reality that we are governed by a system that has long passed it’s sell-by date; one which is described as “morally and intellectually bankrupt” by The Universal House of Justice. The only solution that will ensure a long-term future of peace and prosperity is spiritual — it can only be spiritual.

But what to do about the biofuel problem?

Ahh, the million dollar question. Obviously there is no such thing as a quick fix. Nevertheless, Baha’is believe that even the most complex economic problems can be solved through the application of spiritual principles. Now, supposing for a moment that Tony Deamer’s coconut fuel initiative in Vanuatu became a candidate for large-scale production. What are some questions that we would hope the Government would ask? What are some suggested potential international guidelines on this matter? Here is a quick list that came to my mind:

• What is the nutritional value of the crop in question? Is it a viable source of food for the world’s population?
• What is the current economic state of the country in question? In what ways can the money saved on importing fuel be channeled towards improving education, health care etc?
• Will the by-products of the fuel extraction process have any worth or be discarded as waste?
• What is the potential environmental impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions etc?
• How do we “give back” to the land what has been taken from it?

In terms of coconut fuel in Vanuatu, you may find it interesting to read this article, in which Tony Deamer addresses some of the above questions.

Do you have any personal thoughts on this issue?

Tags: development, economics, fuel, materialism

• General Interest , News & Current Affairs , Principles in Action , Society
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leila July 28th, 2008

I sat down this morning, with my glass of Lady Grey, scanning the pages of the New York Times, guiltily avoiding writing the sequel to my last post. My editor’s voice haunted me, with the words “deadline” and “Sunday” echoing in my head. I sleepily rubbed my shoulder, feeling tense from the day’s depressing headlines, trying to re-ignite the cheery tone with which I had left off in my previous post.

The disintegrative forces — those old, oppressive, corrupt phenomena in the world — were, no doubt, getting me down.

Sometimes, it seems as if oppression, corruption, and injustice are King. Sometimes, it seems the change brought about by the integrative forces is painfully slow.

As I scanned the news, it seemed all hope was lost: a bomb in Istanbul, soaring fuel prices, and the inevitable snarkiness that surrounds the U.S. presidential elections.

Then, hidden among the headlines, I found a gem of a story. It spoke of a music program at a woman’s prison in Venezuela. The women — some thieves, some drug smugglers, and even a Malaysian law student who claimed she was wrongly imprisoned — participate in a voluntary orchestral program that offers classical training. In this program, the women find hope and purpose. One participant remarked, after her three daughters watched her performance, “I finally felt useful in this life.”

This, to me, is an example of the integrative forces arising in the world. Sometimes small, sometimes quiet, but altogether a reflection of a changing attitude in the world.

It’s easy, though, to look at these integrative efforts with a sense of cynicism. I often hear, from my peers or in my own mind, lamentations about how the U.N. is mired in stagnation, or that the millions of dollars the World Bank pours into development hardly produces equivalent results. Or, that successful and well-meaning endeavors in social and economic development are too small to make any kind of true impact.

Our generation is an eternally impatient one, and tends to seek quick-fixes. If we only stopped to reflect on how much we’ve accomplished in the past century, and how much more, as our consciousness expands, humanity will inevitably grow.

In order for humankind to progress, though, it is imperative that we reflect on the nature of the world, on the failures and successes of present institutions, and then act accordingly. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, wrote:

The world is in great turmoil and its problems seem to become daily more acute. We should, therefore, not sit idle, otherwise we would be failing in carrying out our sacred duty. Bahá’u'lláh has not given us His Teachings to treasure them and hide them for our personal delight and pleasure. He gave them to us that we may pass them from mouth to mouth until all the world becomes familiar with them and enjoys their blessings and uplifting influence.

– Shoghi Effendi, Bahá’í News, no. 73 (May 1933), p. 2

Bahá’ís believe that Bahá’u'lláh’s teachings, rooted in the concept of the oneness of humanity, are not only those that will help solve the world’s ills in the future, but are already beginning to do so. Bahá’u'lláh was imprisoned and placed into exile for most of His life — yet His teachings have already manifested themselves in ways both small and large, and millions of individuals around the world, on all continents, have embraced His Faith.

And I’d venture to assert that as a steadily growing cohort of individuals who engage in sustained social action emerges, beginning from the grassroots, and based on the spirit of Bahá’u'lláh’s teachings, our adolescent world will, ever steadily, blossom into the calm of maturity.

So, while my awkwardness personally never ended after adolescence, my adherence to Bahá’u'lláh’s teachings makes me certain that humanity’s will.

Tags: baha'i, integration/disintegration, maturity, oneness, politics

• Baha'i Concepts , News & Current Affairs , Society
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leila July 18th, 2008

Every morning, I sleepily stumble into my office, a glass of steaming Lady Grey Tea in hand, absent-mindedly clack away at the keyboard to log into my computer, and catch up on the world.

Living abroad this year, I’ve soaked up the news more than ever before. I don’t know if it’s an attempt to stay connected with home, or just a new means of procrastination.

And what a year to stay connected — natural disaster in Burma, a heated race in Zimbabwe, Olympic protests against China, a historical presidential election in the U.S.

I reflect on the year, and I can’t help but notice that the vast majority of the news is, well, quite gloomy. Even with the unprecedented breaking of gender and racial boundaries in the U.S. presidential election, the news was constantly fraught with the polarizing, oftentimes nasty coverage that emphasized personality and appearance over issues of substance.

It made me remember why, in the past, I avoided reading the news in the first place — because it was so darn depressing.

But my personal habits have also shifted a bit this year, in that I’ve made a more serious commitment to read from the Bahá’í Writings. And in the process of steadily increasing my knowledge of the Bahá’í Faith, the gloomy nature of the world suddenly seems less depressing to me. In fact, it makes a lot of sense — and, I’d venture to assert, it’s kind of exciting?

Let me backtrack by saying that lives lost, the triumph of dictators, or partisan quarreling in the presidential election is not exciting. It’s sad, and, if I didn’t have the writings of Bahá’u'lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi from which to draw perspective, I’d hop on the next train to the Himalayas with my bag of soy nuts to stare at the clouds in seclusion rather than face the pain of this world.

Two words, however, ring in my head as I read about the world’s woes and triumphs: disintegration and integration.

Let me put this in some context. Most of the world’s traditions — religious, cultural, tribal, or otherwise — speak of the promise of a bright, peaceful, unified future. Bahá’ís believe that that time has arrived.

“But what of all the depressing gloominess you were just talking about?” some of you might be thinking.

This is where my favorite analogy — that comparing the whole of humankind to a human being — comes in. Humanity has gone through its childhood already: grappling with the fact that women are equal to men, that slavery is inhumane, how to rub two sticks together to create fire, and the like. Not everyone is fully in accordance with all those issues (except for the fire part), but in the past century and a half, we’ve made more progress than all previous centuries combined.

Nowadays, we seem to be zooming ahead in certain aspects. Information from India to Chile in seconds? Check. Eradication of many communicable diseases? Check. And yet, we still haven’t figured out a way to get along. We’re making inroads, but somehow, the tension in the world seems to be getting worse and worse.

Isn’t it a bit like adolescence? You’ve figured out how to walk, talk, and feed yourself, but suddenly, a whole new set of problems abounds. Mom and dad are still driving you around -- embarrassing! –, that blemish on your nose never goes away, and you seem to be a lot smellier these days.

And so it is with humanity. We’ve figured out some of the basics, and we astonish ourselves with our scientific and technological advancements. But doesn’t some of that partisan political sniping remind you of gossiping middle-schoolers? Are not the waves of violence and oppression that plague societies reminiscent of the turbulence that surrounds the teenage years? Our global community searching for commonality — what are human rights, what is justice? — similar to an adolescent seeking his or her identity? And likewise, doesn’t our endless quest for knowledge and truth, or our rising suspicion of and exasperation with many present institutions, bring to mind that struggle in the chasm between childhood and adulthood?

It’s certain that the old, oppressive ways are the world are disintegrating – at times rapidly, and other times at a painfully lethargic pace. But with this disintegration has come a gradual, sometimes subtle integrative process.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá elucidated this theme in a talk given in New York City, in 1912:

From every standpoint the world of humanity is undergoing a reformation. The laws of former governments and civilizations are in process of revision; scientific ideas and theories are developing and advancing to meet a new range of phenomena; invention and discovery are penetrating hitherto unknown fields, revealing new wonders and hidden secrets of the material universe; industries have vastly wider scope and production; everywhere the world of mankind is in the throes of evolutionary activity indicating the passing of the old conditions and advent of the new age of reformation. Old trees yield no fruitage; old ideas and methods are obsolete and worthless now. Old standards of ethics, moral codes and methods of living in the past will not suffice for the present age of advancement and progress.

(Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 438)

In Part II, I’ll explore the integrative phenomena arising in today’s world, and the central role the Bahá’í Faith plays in the building up of a new civilization.

Meanwhile, a homework assignment: try reading the news today. Any examples of the integrative processes I mentioned? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Tags: baha'i, integration/disintegration, maturity, oneness, politics

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nadim July 16th, 2008

Picture a soccer game with 22 players and no referee. I’m not talking about the lazy Saturday afternoon kick-about with a bunch of friends and bags in place of goals — I’m talking highly-competitive, international football. How exactly would that work out we may ask ourselves?

Now picture this scenario: we have one young player on the team, going by the name of Zim, who has been committing fouls persistently throughout the game (in full view of everyone). This carries on for a while, everyone sees it but feels powerless to do anything because, well, none of them are referees, nor do they consider it their job to intervene.

Eventually it goes too far, Zim commits one foul too many and everything boils over. Two of the older players, call them Britain and the United States, charge up to Zim and start yelling and gesticulating. “Get your act together and play by the rules!” they shout, to which Zim impetuously shrugs his shoulders and responds: “Who are you to tell me what to do? I’ve seen the two of you committing plenty of fouls yourselves. Besides, it’s no secret that both of you have fouled me in the past.”

Along come two more of the senior players — China and Russia — and they join in the fray: “Leave him alone,” they say, “It’s not our job to sort this situation out, nor has he fouled any of us, so basically we have nothing to gain from intervening!” They argue back and forth on this theme for a while, neither party giving an inch, until eventually they turn to Zim’s best friend hoping that maybe he can do something about it.

And, as if things weren’t divided enough, South Africa has worked out his own strategy: “Don’t worry, I’m talking to him. All he needs is a bit of encouragement. I hope that at some point he will play by the rules, but in the meantime we’ll just have to tolerate him.” So, after wasting the whole afternoon arguing, they carry on playing with nothing resolved.

Doesn’t it seem obvious at this point that a referee is needed?

The question of Zimbabwe is merely the latest in a whole catalog of decision-making failures at the international level, and as people scratch their heads for answers yet again, one wonders when the penny will finally drop. Will it require another major crisis, on the scale of a world war, for leaders to realize that their priorities are worn and outdated? That the days of selfish nationalism, of excessive patriotism, of stubbornly clinging to the perceived good of one’s own nation instead of sincerely caring for the good of the whole, are well and truly over. Well over a century ago, Baha’u'llah stated:

The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.

And with every passing crisis, with the increasing complexity of modern-day issues, the truth of these words becomes more and more evident. What’s more, (and I apologize for using the football analogy again), it becomes increasingly apparent that the game of politics can’t keep being played without, at the very least, a base set of laws that all will adhere to. Nor can it continue to be played without a referee who has everyone’s full backing, not only to make decisions, but more importantly to ACT on those decisions. Although, perhaps “referee” is the wrong term to use here (after all, history has repeatedly demonstrated how excessive centralization has a tendency to promote despotism). Anyone who has watched a game of football knows how frustrating it can be when the ref makes one (unchallengeable) decision and video replays confirm he got it totally wrong! A “refereeing panel”, or world parliament backed by a formidable international force, is more like the answer, according to the Baha’i Writings.

The Baha’i International Community, in a fascinating document entitled “Turning Point For All Nations“, broadly surveys the political landscape in the light of past and present happenings. In addition, the document offers several compelling suggestions on how to advance towards the goal of lasting peace. For example, in addressing the question of which of the myriad political systems to choose as a model for world governance, they write the following:

Furthermore, in devising a specific framework for the future international order, leaders should survey a broad range of approaches to governance. Rather than being modeled after any single one of the recognized systems of government, the solution may embody, reconcile and assimilate within its framework such wholesome elements as are to be found in each one of them.

For example, one of the time-tested models of governance that may accommodate the world’s diversity within a unified framework is the federal system. Federalism has proved effective in decentralizing authority and decision-making in large, complex, and heterogeneous states, while maintaining a degree of overall unity and stability. Another model worth examining is the commonwealth, which at the global level would place the interest of the whole ahead of the interest of any individual nation.

Extraordinary care must be taken in designing the architecture of the international order so that it does not over time degenerate into any form of despotism, of oligarchy, or of demagogy corrupting the life and machinery of the constituent political institutions.

So federalism has proven it’s effectiveness in uniting diverse groups within a flexible framework, and is a possibility, as is the idea of a world commonwealth. Well, what next? The temptation exists to simply file these thoughts away and worry about the future when it happens, playing the role of passive observer. Wrong approach. In the atomic age it is clearly dangerous to ignore such questions for too long. What the world desperately needs right now is a critical mass of people who share the same vision of unity — and who will strive their utmost to promote it.

While we believe this formulation of a world government is at once the ultimate safeguard and the inevitable destiny of humankind, we do recognize that it represents a long-term picture of a global society. Given the pressing nature of the current state of affairs, the world requires bold, practical and actionable strategies that go beyond inspiring visions of the future. Nevertheless, by focusing on a compelling concept, a clear and consistent direction for evolutionary change emerges from the mire of contradictory views and doctrines.

(Baha’i International Community, 1995 Oct, Turning Point For All Nations)

Tags: justice, politics, unity, Zimbabwe

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nooshin July 1st, 2008

There is something clearly wrong in the economic system of the world today and it is the most vulnerable who are having to pay the price. Since the start of 2006, the average world price for rice has risen by 217 percent, wheat by 136 percent, maize by 125 percent and soybeans by 107 percent, (according to a Wikipedia entry on 2007-2008 world food price crisis). These price hikes have sparked a wave of protests around the world: from Haiti to Kenya to Indonesia to Egypt and Ivory Coast.

In an interesting article (Hoarding Nations Drive Food Costs Ever Higher, 30 June 2008), the New York Times explains that since 1980 “even as trade in services and in manufactured goods has tripled, adjusting for inflation, trade in food has barely increased. Instead, for decades, food has been a convoluted tangle of restrictive rules, in the form of tariffs, quotas and subsidies….[T]he world is increasingly dependent on a handful of countries…that are still exporting large quantities of food…. [P]oor countries have frequently cut farm assistance programs and lowered tariffs to balance budgets and avoid charging high prices to urban consumers. But they have found that their farmers cannot compete with imports from rich countries — imports that are heavily subsidized”.

In our Economics 101 lectures we were taught about Adam Smith’s ”invisible hand“, about comparative advantage and the importance of free trade.  By the time we made it to post-graduate courses, our lecturers could no longer hide the fact that Messers Smith, Keynes and Friedman did not have it all worked out, and that in fact “free market forces” did not have the power to fix everything.

In a statement entitled Valuing Spirituality in Development (18 February 1998), the Baha’i International Community posits an entirely different view of economics:

Central to the task of reconceptualizing the organization of human affairs is arriving at a proper understanding of the role of economics. The failure to place economics into the broader context of humanity’s social and spiritual existence has led to a corrosive materialism in the world’s more economically advantaged regions, and persistent conditions of deprivation among the masses of the world’s peoples. Economics should serve people’s needs; societies should not be expected to reformulate themselves to fit economic models. The ultimate function of economic systems should be to equip the peoples and institutions of the world with the means to achieve the real purpose of development: that is, the cultivation of the limitless potentialities latent in human consciousness.

There is a very useful tool that economists use to measure the inequality of wealth distribution. The Gini Coefficient is a ratio between 0 and 1, with 0 being perfect equality.  The map below illustrates the 2007/2008 Gini Coefficient for the world, as based on a recently released Human Development Report by the UNDP.  The darker the colour, the more unequal is the distribution of wealth in that country.

Addressing the problem of the extremes between wealth and poverty, the Universal House of Justice said this, in their 1985 message to the world The Promise of World Peace:

The inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute suffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the brink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation. The solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and practical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing consultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of economic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly affected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that is bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth and poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of which can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is itself a major part of the solution.

Unbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate patriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a whole. Bahá’u’lláh’s statement is: “The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.” The concept of world citizenship is a direct result of the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through scientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations. Love of all the world’s peoples does not exclude love of one’s country. The advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting the advantage of the whole.

It is important for all of us, especially those from more developed countries, to remember our responsibilities to the rest of the world and to not take our material comforts for granted, as if they are somehow our “God-given rights”.  The resources of the world are the God-given patrimony of every member of the human race.

God is not partial and is no respecter of persons. He has made provision for all. The harvest comes forth for everyone. The rain showers upon everybody and the heat of the sun is destined to warm everyone. The verdure of the earth is for everyone. Therefore there should be for all humanity the utmost happiness, the utmost comfort, the utmost well-being.

But if conditions are such that some are happy and comfortable and some in misery; some are accumulating exorbitant wealth and others are in dire want — under such a system it is impossible for man to be happy and impossible for him to win the good pleasure of God. God is kind to all. The good pleasure of God consists in the welfare of all the individual members of mankind.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Foundations of World Unity)

Tags: consumerism, economics, food, materialism, poverty

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Baha'i Perspectives June 19th, 2008

June 18 marks the 25th anniversary of the day 10 Bahá’í women were hanged in Shiraz, Iran, for teaching religious classes to Bahá’í youth — the equivalent of being Sunday School teachers in the West…

All of the women had been interrogated and tortured in the months leading up to their execution. Some bore still-visible wounds. The youngest of the martyrs was Muna Mahmudnizhad, a 17-year-old schoolgirl who, because of her youth and conspicuous innocence, became a symbol of the group. In prison, she was lashed on the soles of her feet with a cable and forced to walk on bleeding feet… Read More

What precisely could these heroic women have been teaching children in their classes? Well, the topics on Baha’i Perspectives may give us a clue, so let’s take a closer look at what has been discussed thus far. Maybe they were teaching about love and unity. Or education. Or eliminating prejudice. Or the lives of the Prophets of God, including that of his Holiness the Prophet Muhammad. Or even the commandment in the Baha’i Faith to show obedience to the government of the land.

And for all of this, like their predecessors before them, they were branded as traitors and heretics, lashed, beaten and eventually executed. “Traitors” because they understood the text of the Holy Quran in a way that didn’t suit the self-serving interests of the ruling clergy. “Heretics” because they declared their belief in Baha’u'llah, the Glory of God, and chose to follow a world-embracing Cause that addresses present-day concerns and challenges, and not those of a thousand years ago.

Yet to present some sense of legitimacy to their actions, the Iranian Government tells the outside world that they are “spies” and “threats to state security”, allegations which the world has come to realize are utter nonsense.

25 years later and the pattern repeats itself, with the arrest and imprisonment of these 7 Baha’i leaders under the same false pretenses:

In a letter to the Baha’is of Iran, dated 3 June 2008, the governing council of the Baha’i Faith encourages the Baha’is not to take up arms and fight back, but to continue demonstrating through their steadfastness, patience and rectitude of conduct, the true Baha’i way of life:

Despite the current crisis, pay no heed to oppression and cruelty and, inspired by the Divine Teachings, act in the opposite manner. Focus your thoughts on being a source of good to those around you. Exert every endeavour to serve your fellow citizens–heirs to a culture rich and humane–who themselves suffer from many an injustice. Avoid all divisiveness and conflict, consort with everyone with kindliness and sincerity, and engage with your compatriots in the discussion of ideas and the exchange of thoughts on matters with which they are anxiously concerned. Ignite in their hearts the flame of hope, faith, and assurance in Iran’s glorious future and in the bright destiny of humankind which you well know is sure to come to pass.

As we go about our daily lives, our thoughts and prayers are constantly with them.

Tags: freedom, Iran

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nooshin May 27th, 2008

It has been a very difficult two weeks in South Africa. Doubtless you are all aware of the wave of anti-foreigner attacks that has engulfed the country. Figures given on Friday 23 May estimate that there have been over 4,661 incidents and 519 people have been arrested, that over 50 people have lost their lives and more than 550 people have been injured. I have written a summary of this as part of my job at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Southern Africa Zone office.

The number of displaced people is estimated to be between 25,000 and 30,000. That’s how many people have fled from their homes in fear of attacks, and are now living in makeshift shelters at police stations and community halls, trying to stay warm in the biting cold of winter. It is a tragic situation, one which I don’t see being solved very soon.

I was going to focus my blog on the perpetrators of these acts of inhumanity and violence. But I realized that they get enough press time as it. I think the following quotation from Abdu’l-Baha will be sufficient:

In this wonderful age, according to the divine texts, ye must befriend all nations and communities. Ye must not look upon violence, force, evil intentions, persecutions or hostility, nay rather, ye must raise your eyes to the horizon of glory and see that each one of these creatures is a sign of the Lord of Signs and has stepped upon the arena of existence through divine favor and supreme energy. Thus they are known and not unknown, are friends and not strangers. We must deal with all according to the above criterion.

I want to rather talk about the good people in South Africa: and most South Africans are good, generous and caring. I work for the Red Cross, an organization whose life blood is its volunteer base. South African Red Cross volunteers have been at the sites since the first violent attacks, in often dangerous and difficult conditions, providing food, blankets and other items to those affected.

Everywhere around me, I see people looking to see how they can help. My friend Lebo felt he needed to do something, so he collected R2,000 in donations and went shopping for items he could take to the shelters. Lena, another friend, is involved in her Church’s donation drive: she went to buy the stuff they had asked for, and added fluffy blankets and chocolates for the children, even though she knew it wasn’t very practical, but because she so wanted to brighten a child’s day. Fern Lee, a friend of my brother’s from Cape Town, had about two hour’s sleep on the weekend because she was at shelters helping distribute food and clothes. These are the people I want to celebrate in this blog, because they, and the thousands like them around the country, have taught me that each one of us has the power to make a difference, and the responsibility to assist those in need. Baha’u'llah exhorts His Followers to have special care for those less fortunate:

If ye meet the abased or the down-trodden, turn not away disdainfully from them, for the King of Glory ever watcheth over them and surroundeth them with such tenderness as none can fathom except them that have suffered their wishes and desires to be merged in the Will of your Lord, the Gracious, the All-Wise. O ye rich ones of the earth! Flee not from the face of the poor that lieth in the dust, nay rather befriend him and suffer him to recount the tale of the woes with which God’s inscrutable Decree hath caused him to be afflicted. By the righteousness of God! Whilst ye consort with him, the Concourse on high will be looking upon you, will be interceding for you, will be extolling your names and glorifying your action.

Tags: generosity, poverty, prejudice

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iman May 24th, 2008

The recent cyclone in Myanmar and earthquake in China raise questions about whether, apart from the widely-known scientific and environmental causes of such occurrences, natural disasters are Divinely influenced.

Does God have an influence on the occurrence of natural disasters — a punishment, a test, maybe even a reward? One might suggest that the very nature of Creation, with the perpetual movement and state-shifting of matter, would inevitably cause such events to occur. Yet, one of the most common questions we hear during these situations is “why?”; “why must such things happen to all those innocent people?”

The Divine reasoning, because it operates on countless plains of existence beyond our own, is impossible to understand. Our finite thinking would lead us to speculate baselessly given such a meagre understanding of Creation past, present or future. God is “the unknowable Essence” whose far-reaching influence is unfathomable by the human mind:

To every discerning and illumined heart it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence, the divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress. Far be it from His glory that human tongue should adequately recount His praise, or that human heart comprehend His fathomless mystery. He is and hath ever been veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men…No tie of direct intercourse can possibly bind Him to His creatures. He standeth exalted beyond and above all separation and union, all proximity and remoteness. No sign can indicate His presence or His absence; inasmuch as by a word of His command all that are in heaven and on earth have come to exist, and by His wish, which is the Primal Will itself, all have stepped out of utter nothingness into the realm of being, the world of the visible.

(Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 97)

What we can do, however, is to focus on serving those affected by natural calamities, to encourage and contribute towards scientific progress that helps to dampen the impact of natural disasters and, most importantly, to turn to God during such trying times. Baha’u'llah states in The Most Holy Book, “on the appearance of fearful natural events call ye to mind the might and majesty of your Lord, He Who heareth and seeth all, and say “Dominion is God’s, the Lord of the seen and the unseen, the Lord of creation.”"

Tags: natural disasters

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