Freedom
nooshin April 2nd, 2008
Freedom is like health: you only really notice it when you don’t have it. I read something last week which reminded me that I wasn’t born free. That for the first nine years of my life, I had to hide my faith, and to be ever-vigilant so that no one found out that my family is Bahá’í:
Bahá’í school children in Iran are being subjected to cruel and harsh treatment as part of a government-sponsored campaign against the Bahá’í community. Reports indicate that Baha’i pupils are secretly monitored and reported upon by school officials, are subjected to vilification by their teachers and school administrators, and are forced to listen to vile and outrageous tales about the teachings of their Faith and the moral behavior of Baha’is.
I had flashbacks to my life before we escaped (over the border into Pakistan) when I was 9 and my baby brother was 4. We would have to hide the prayer books when strangers were in the house; we would have to walk to other Bahá’í homes, arriving separately so that no one could get suspicious. I remember the night a member of my extended family was released from prison (where he had been for years, because he was a Bahá’í) and the conversation I had with my father, about why the “uncle” didn’t just lie and say he was no longer a Bahá’í so that he could have been freed. I remember how upset my childishly simple logic made my father, who explained to me the importance of faith and certitude and steadfastness, even in the face of adversity.
My father knew what he was talking about: my grandmother had been in labour with him while the towns people were attacking and burning down the door of my grandparents’ house. He had to walk to school, facing the taunts of ignorant children, who were taught that it is a blessing to revile and attack Bahá’ís. He was denied educational and job opportunities because of his faith. And until his last breath, my father was steadfast in his beliefs and filled with a love for humanity that transcended all the hardships he had endured.
My family’s story is unfortunately not unique. A very good summary is available on this site, along with supporting documentation and testimonials:
The persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran has been taking place since the religion began there in the mid-nineteenth century. More than 200 Bahá’ís were killed in Iran between 1978 and 1998, the majority by execution, and thousands more were imprisoned…Bahá’ís in Iran are systematically denied jobs, pensions and the right to inherit property. More than 10,000 Bahá’ís have been dismissed from government and university posts since Iran’s 1979 revolution.
It has been years since I had a nightmare about being taken away from my parents in the middle of the night, something I was convinced was possible even in the seemingly safe Zimbabwean suburb we finally settled in. But for so many of my Bahá’í brothers and sisters, my childhood nightmare is their heartbreaking reality.
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Reading through news reports about a bomb blast in a mosque in Shiraz, Iran, I found an 
