Baha’i Perspectives

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 April 17th, 2008

Reading through news reports about a bomb blast in a mosque in Shiraz, Iran, I found an article from the Associate Press, quoting Fars Press Agency:

The explosion ripped through the mosque packed with hundreds of worshippers late Saturday as a cleric delivered his weekly speech against extremist Wahabi beliefs and the outlawed Baha’i faith, the semiofficial Fars news agency said.

In a similar vein, Reuters recently reported on death threats made to Noble Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi. One of the things she is accused in one of the threats is “un-Islamic behaviour which coincides with Baha’i manners.”

On a less puzzling, and more optimistic note, the Manitou Messenger reports on a resolution passed by the student senate of St. Olaf College:

At last week’s student senate meeting, a resolution voicing support of Iranian Baha’i Students was passed. The resolution was a proclamation of support in protest against the Iranian government denying access to higher education for Baha’i students.

And finally, the lyrics to a song I heard for the first time last week, by Solomon Burke, called “None of Us Are Free”:

Well you better listen my sister’s and brothers,
’cause if you do you can hear
there are voices still calling across the years.
And they’re all crying across the ocean,
and they’re cryin across the land,
and they will till we all come to understand.

None of us are free.
None of us are free.
None of us are free, one of us are chained.
None of us are free.

Tags: freedom, Iran

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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 townspeople 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.

Tags: freedom, Iran

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