IRAN: New series of attacks on members of the Bahai faith

Iran's Islamic authorities appear to be stepping up repression of a small, long-maligned religious minority, advocates for the group say. 

Members of the Bahai faith in Iran reportedly have been subject to a recent series of attacks on their homes and cemeteries and investigations into their bank accounts. (A Bahai temple in the U.S. is pictured above.)

On July 18, the opposition Iranian news website Rahana reported that two Bahai cemeteries were desecrated in the Iranian cities of Isfahan and Borujerd. In June, the entrance to the cemetery in Isfahan was blocked. The Bahais reported this to the authorities but said officials did not follow up the case. 

The Rahana reporter said this was part of a systematic plan on behalf of the government to desecrate Bahai cemeteries.

It also was reported on July 18 by the pro-opposition Hrana news that banks in Birjand, Iran, were ordered to conduct audits and investigations on all accounts held by Bahais. This investigation reportedly was ordered by Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and allegedly included investigatory visits to Bahai business owners and their Muslim neighbors. It is unknown at this point what the authorities are looking to do with the information they glean from these investigations. 

On June 28, 50 homes belonging to Bahai adherents in Ivel, Iran, were set on fire, then leveled with trucks. The Bahais believe, according to the Baha’i World News Service, that these are just the latest developments in an officially sanctioned program of persecution, targeting all activities of the Bahai.

"Bahais have lived in this area for more than 100 years and it once had a large community," said Diane Alai, representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.

"But in 1983, a few years after the Iranian revolution, at least 30 families from this and neighboring villages were put on buses and expelled. Since then, they have tried to seek legal redress to no avail, while returning in the summer to harvest their crops," she said. 

Originally an offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Bahai faith eventually became its own religion. Shiite clerics have long denounced it as heretical, though some Iranian reformist clergy have begun to make peace with the religion in recent years and even voiced regret for past repression of Bahais.

Bahais also have run afoul of Sunni extremists in other Middle East countries, including Egypt.

-- Los Angeles Times

Photo: The nine-sided building in Wilmette, Ill., is one of seven Bahai temples in the world. Credit: Religion News Service

Comments

[Carly]

I just wanted to remind everyone that our religion is NOT technically an offshoot of Islam, Baha u llah was a Muslim at first and so were all the followers of the Baha’I religion however before they became baha’is they all had to become followers of Babism, so really they were Bab followers before becoming bahai’s and if you want to consider it as an offshoot of any religion at all it would have to be Babism. However it is connected to Islam in a sense that they were Muslims at first however as far as the religion goes; it is definitely an independent religion and is not a branch or offshoot of Islam or any other religions for that matter. We as Bahai’s are all expected to respect Islam, Christianity or any of the other 8 Major religions of the world, so Karen if you do not respect Islam at all then you can not really be a true Baha’i.

[Anonyme1543]

Karen, you show very poor knowledge of our Baha'i faith.

To claim that "The Baha'i' Faith IS NOT ... in anyway connected, nor was ever connected to Islam," is simply wrong. I suggest you study about the parent religion of our faith (the Baha'i faith), i.e., Islam, just as our teachings urge us to do. (They urge us to study Islam and the Qur'an with an open and unbiased mind and not through the writings of those opposed to Islam)

The Baha'i faith was in fact connected to Islam from its beginnings; it's founders were born Muslims; it was born in a Muslim nation; its early followers were born Muslims; the Baha'i Faith considers the Prophet Muhammad to be a Manifestation of God and His Book the Holy Qur'an to be a chapter in the endless faith of God (it is, in a way, our "Old Testament").

I think most importantly, the founders of the Baha'i Faith copiously quote the Qur'an in their own writings. And they praise Islam and Mohammad and the Qur'an just as they do the other divine religions and their founders and scriptures.

While this does not mean the Baha'i Faith is/was a sect or offshoot of Islam today or then, it most certainly does not mean that it is completely unrelated and disconnected from Islam in the angry way you say.

Lastly, your tone is almost anti-Islamic. Again, be very careful. When Abdu'l Baha was in Europe and America teaching the masses about the Baha'i faith in the early 1900's, he would go to churches and synagogues and preach the oneness of religions and would prove to Christians and Jews the divine origins of Islam and the Qur'an and would teach about the divine spirit of Mohammad.

Islam, for its time and place, raised the status of women. It gave them property rights; the right to divorce, even to life! (by banning female infanticide!); it made them persons. So to say that women are not equal to men in Islam, again, is very distorted rhetoric.

How can you then say what you have just said?

I hope you will forgive me if by posting this response I may have upset you in any way.

[Anonyme1543]

Thank you for this article and for bringing the plight of the Baha'is of Iran to light.

I wish some of my fellow Baha'is would relax, calm down, and not get all riled up over a few journalistic matters (won't even call them errors), and just like our own Abd'ul-Baha said (he did, didn't he?) to LOOK AT THE POSITIVE IN ANYTHING ANYONE DOES OR SAYS. I.e. overlook the faults. Look at the larger context, and see this as a positive piece. And use a "kindly tongue" (don't you believe it is like a magnet to the human heart? or have you forgotten your basic Baha'i manners?) when commenting to the writer. Also, remember that it is NOT your place to comment to the writer about those matters at all anyway. It is the responsibility and prerogative of our National Spiritual Assembly and its institutions to do so.

Again, I thank the bloggers of LATimes babylon and beyond.

[Kamran]

It is unfortunate that the Times, in their attempt to portray the plight of an innocent, persecuted minority in repressive Iran, has at the same time managed to present an incorrect picture of this universal Faith. The reference to Baha'i Faith as an offshoot of Islam (similar to claiming Christianity an offshoot of Judaism), and the caption of " A Baha'i Temple", referring to one of the very few magnificent Baha'i Houses of Worship around the world, each a masterpiece of architecture and of human unity, shows very poor journalism. I can only hope that your future reports on the Baha'i Faith will place greater emphasis on factual correctness.

[RL]

@ Karen...i think it was an honest mistake that the writer made when stating the Bahai Faith was originally an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Yet you are correct in that it is a distinctively new religion apart from Islam though it holds things in common with Islam. Just as Judaism and Christianity hold things in common and are connected through the central figure of Christ' heritage and life circumstances.(he was born and raised as a Jew in a Jewish community)yet they are seperate and distinctive...likewise the central figure of the Bahai Faith (Baha'u'llah) was born into a community of Shiite Islam and like Christ later on proclaimed his station as a divine messenger further defining the distinction of the Bahai Faith along side Islam. Though Bahais understand through Baha'u'llah's own account that the Bahai Faith is new and distinct it is understandable how perspectives from some unfamiliar with the Bahai Faith may mistakenly overstate this connection with Islam.

Also it is important to remember that good or bad, whether it be ethnicity, religion, nationality, age, or gender...we are all connected!

[Karen]

THe Baha'i' Faith IS NOT an offshoot of Shiite Islam, nor in anyway connected, nor was ever connected to Islam. I am an American Baha'i'. Were the Baha'i' Faith an offshoot of Islam, I would NEVER has considered it. I became a Baha'i' because it is the Faith of Universal Brotherhood of Man and Woman. Because it's primary tenet is the equality of the sexes! Unlike Islam. How silly of the reporter in the L.A. Times to have failed to research their subject before going to press!

[joseph]

Thank you for this article, we pray daily in Canada for the Bahai's safety within this unjust government.

[Kevin]

It is sad that some of the religious authorities in Iran, while identifying with a historically persecuted religion of their own (Shiite Islam), do not extend the same compassion to their Bahai brethren. The Iranian people deserve more than the decades of fear & isolation that the select few have imposed upon them (from within and elsewhere).

[Felix Charles]

When they lie about us and attempt to Defame the name of Baha u llah, we glorify Prophet Mohamed (Peace be on Hisname) because our Faith teaches us:
" A kindly tongue is the lodestone of the hearts of men.It is the bread of the spirit, it clotheth the words with meaning, it is the fountain of the light of wisdom
and understanding."
In spite of it all we love them because we are also taught that:
" When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace.A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a MORE POWERFUL THOUGHT OF LOVE"
So why should you kill and persecute us?

[JFarreast]

Thank you for this fine article. It is very accurate except for this one sentence, "Originally an offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Baha'i faith eventually became its own religion." The Baha'i Faith was always an independent religion. In the same way that Christianity is not an offshoot of Judaism nor Islam an offshoot of Christianity, the Baha'i Faith is not an offshoot of Islam.

[Luiz Henrique]

I'm a Bahá'í from Brazil and I ask everyone to pray to those strong souls in Iran.
Thank You.

[Shamim Bina]

Excellent article!!! Only one problem, this: "Originally an offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Bahai faith eventually became its own religion." This is incorrect because if you ask any Baha'i that is not the case. If you ask any Muslim clergy, they will tell you the same thing. The Baha'i Faith is the newest independent world religion on Earth. If you ask any Baha'i they will tell you that as Baha'is we believe there is one religion: the religion of God. There has been and will always be just one religion. Just like how Prophet Moses came to say there is only one God. Baha'u'llah the founder of the Baha'i Faith states that there is only one religion and that it gets updated if you will every one thousand or so years in this process of progressive revelation. In the Baha'i Faith we also do not have clergy so I am not an authority figure at all. I am just stating a Baha'i belief. Thanks for this wonderful article! Keep up the good work!!

[Shamim Bina]

I heard about this. Good thing the word is spreading rapidly about the Baha'is of Iran!!! I am so happy the news is getting out :)

[Shamim Bina]

I am a Baha'i from Iran and now live in Oklahoma. Thanks very much for writing this article LA Times so that the truth and the awareness get out. much appreciate! God bless you all!

[James Bond]

Where are all the tolerant and peace-loving Islamists? Of all religions, the Bahais are the most innocuous and easy to get along with people. Looks like the Iranian government is exactly the evil it is portrayed to be. I am surprised that the local Muslim populations are going along with that. Just disgusting. They need to be represented in the UN - speaking of which: what are they doing about this? Nothing, because the UN is essentially muzzled by the Arab world.

[Allen]

There is a significant Baha'i community here in the US, probably consisting of more native-born Americans than there are Middle-Easterners. As a matter of fact, most Middle-Easterners are surprised to find that there is a thriving and vibrant Baha'i community that are not predominantly Middle-Eastern here (they look at me as a white Texan and are amazed that I am a Baha'i). My point is that these persecutions, while being aimed at wiping out the Baha'i Faith, will never succeed because the Faith has spread beyond the original small national, racial and ethnic boundaries of its origins and is being embraced by persons from all walks of life. They're just delaying the inevitable, that one day there will be a sizable Baha'i community everywhere in the world!