The Bahá'í Situation: A Brief Summary

Today we will not give a quote. Today, a more serious issue is at hand. Today, we will cover the persecution of the Bahá'ís in Iran. More specifically, the seven Bahá'í leaders to be put on trial tomorrow after over a year in prison and without access to their lawyer.

You look around the world and pick any nation with a minority throughout history. This minority, somehow or another, is discriminated against. Even in the United States today, it is near impossible for people who are not of the Protestant sect of Christianity to achieve the presidency. Those who are of any other system of belief are usually shunned aside. In Iran, the news propagates President Ahmadinejad's, and every other (I believe) past president's, dislike of Israel and at times the discrimination of the Jews in Iran. However, there is a discrimination which is at the point of persecution which has been occurring in Iran since 1844.

From the inception of the Bahá'í Faith in Iran (1844 AD), its members have been persecuted, removed from their occupations, sent to prison, separated from their families, exiled, humiliated and even murdered. Lord Curzon writes,

“Before I quit the subject of the Persian law and its administration, let me add a few words upon the subject of penalties and prisons. Nothing is more shocking to the European reader, in pursuing his way through the crime-stained and bloody pages of Persian history during the last and, in a happily less degree, during the present century, than the record of savage punishments and abominable tortures, testifying alternately to the callousness of the brute and the ingenuity of the fiend. The Persian character has ever been fertile in device and indifferent to suffering; and in the field of judicial executions it has found ample scope for the exercise of both attainments. Up till quite a recent period, well within the borders of the present reign, condemned criminals have been crucified, blown from guns, buried alive, impaled, shod like horses, torn asunder by being bound to the heads of two trees bent together and then allowed to spring back to their natural position, converted into human torches, flayed while living."-circa 1900 (Introduction of The Dawn Breakers)

These persecutions were not saved only for the early Bahá'ís, but for everybody. However, to a greater extent, the Bahá'ís faced the barrel end of this persecution.

Let me write a brief history of the Bahá'í Faith and perhaps this will help us all understand the current situation. In 1844, the Báb (meaning the Gate) declared that He was a Manifestation of God heralding the coming of a new day. The Báb spoke of a person to come after Himself which He called, "Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest." He may be likened to John the Baptist who spoke of the coming Messiah, Jesus the Christ. The Báb's teachings spread throughout Persia like a wildfire and immediately the Persian officials became alarmed. Since this nation was (and still is) an Islamic state (specifically that of the Shiah sect), the Islamic leaders-the Mullahs and Ulamas-began denouncing the Báb and persecuting His believers. In the beginning, such persecution was on the more mild state. Two of the Báb's believers who began teaching the Faith were arrested and the governor of the province of Fárs, "...reviled and cursed him [one of the two believers], ordered his attendants to strip him of his garments and to scourge him with a thousand lashes. He then commanded that the beards of both Quddús and Mullá Ṣádiq should be burned, their noses be pierced, that through this incision a cord should be passed, and with this halter they should be led through the streets of the city. 'It will be an object lesson to the people of Shíráz,' Ḥusayn Khán declared, 'who will know what the penalty of heresy will be.'" (The Dawn Breakers)

At this point, one must be in a confused state. How can this be a more mild punishment? As the Bábi Faith grew, more and more people began to follow the Faith and awaiting the coming of Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest. The Islamic clergy felt nothing but fear could turn people away from the Báb. They had the Shah exile the Báb to the most remote parts of the country. At the height of the persecution, the Persian army was sent against a band of Bábis making their way through a town. For a five month period of time, the army clashed against this band who protected themselves in a fort. Every one of them was killed or imprisoned. In 1850, the Báb Himself was hung in the barracks square in Tabriz and a contingent of 750 soldiers took His life.

This however did not stop the movement. Bahá'u'lláh, a follower of the Báb, was released from prison in 1853 and exiled to Baghdad with His family and some of the other Bábis. Many people began to realize Bahá'u'lláh was a very special person due to His kindness and magnetic personality. In 1863, when He was about to be exiled again to Constantinople (again, the Islamic clergy began to see a gain in popularity in This Figure and were afraid He would take away from their power), Bahá'u'lláh declared He was Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest. The Bábis began then to referring themselves as Bahá'ís. From here Bahá'u'lláh was exiled to Adrianople and finally to Akka, the prison city, the penal colony, where the worst prisoners-thieves, murderers, highway men, were sent. In each city, Bahá'u'lláh gained such a following that the leaders did not feel comfortable with having Him nearby. He died as a prisoner in 1892.

Returning to Iran. The persecution of the Bahá'ís never stopped. Due to humanitarian voicing however, it has declined to an extent. However, after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, this all changed. Bahá'ís began to be openly persecuted and killed. After the hanging of seven Bahá'í women began publicized (years after their deaths), public outcry increased to the extent that the persecution went underground.

In a document called the Closed Doors Document, the Iranian government planned the expulsion of all Baháís from education (in Iran and worldwide if possible). Here is a transcript of that very letter http://denial.bahai.org/002_1.php

Finally, the present. Now. Today. Within the next twentyfour hours, a group of Seven Bahá'ís are being put on trial. Their charge? Spying for Israel, spreading corruption on Earth and many others. Here is an article one may peruse giving more information on these Seven Bahá'í leaders.
http://news.bahai.org/story/719

Let me now refute the two above charges. After looking through the history, we know that the Bahá'ís were in Israel while it was still an Ottoman Province and then Palestine. The fact that they have their administrative body and Holy Places in Israel does not mean they spy for Israel. They were simply exiled there by the body who now accuses them of espionage.

Now corruption on Earth... This is a ridiculous charge. The Bahá'í Faith seeks to unite the world and eliminate all forms of prejudice. It believes that all of humanity is a family, that we are all brothers and sisters. How can this be corruption? If corruption is bringing people together, then their view of a perfect society is one of disunity and chaos.

In the past few months, we have seen journalists and other people taken into custody and put on trial in the most ludicrous of methods in Iran. The same may be expected for these seven Bahá'í leaders. All we can do at this point is pray.