Egypt: Baha'is Refuting Slander

An Egyptian newspaper entitled Al-Mesryoon (The Egyptians) published an article on 22 December 2006 in which it reports on impending legal action by Egyptian Islamist groups intended to strip the Egyptian Baha'is of their citizenship. The article appears to advertise their intention and it repeats the slanderous accusations used by the extremists in their case.

This post is intended to accomplish two objectives:

1) The article: expose the slander by reporting the accusations made by the Islamists and published in the article.
2) The Response: to refute these accusations by using quotes from the Baha'i sacred writings.

1) The Article

The newspaper article begins with a catching title stating "They refuse fasting Ramadan and pilgrimage to the Kaaba, and they permit exchanging wives: Islamist activists litigate the Ministry of Interior to force it to strip off Egyptian citizenship from Baha'is."

It continues by stating that the newspaper "has learned that a number of Islamist activists decided to file lawsuits against the Ministry of Interior to strip off the Egyptian citizenship from the so-called Baha'i congregation in Egypt. These activists--who belong to more than one Islamist group--within the next week will resort to the Administrative Judiciary to produce a verdict forcing the Ministry of interior to strip the Baha'is of their citizenship, confirming that [the Baha'is] have excluded themselves from the law and the official constitution of the land, and stating that Islam is the official religion of the State and that Shari'ah is the principal source of legislation. Additionally since the Egyptian constitution does not recognize but the three divine religions, proving that those calling themselves Baha'is have violated the constitution and the law."

"The lawsuit confirmed--a copy of which was acquired by Al-Mesryoon--that the Baha'is permit adultery in the general sense and the forbidden adultery in the specific sense, which is a cause resented by the righteous, additionally they destroy the fundamental Islamic cornerstones as they refuse to fast Ramadan, and the pilgrimage to Mecca like all Muslims do, but instead their pilgrimage is to Iran, and Haifa in occupied Palestine. Also, their prayer rituals are completely the opposite of Muslim prayers, as they shortened it to only three prayer sessions per day."

"The lawsuit also stated that the presence of 2,000 Baha'is in Egypt threatens the security of the country and points to spreading "fetnah" Sedition [sectarian strife], depravity and debauchery within the society, especially that they are the first to invent the decadent exchange of wives."

"It is also worth mentioning that the Ministry of Interior was successful in winning a legal verdict last week in the Supreme Administrative Court overruling the previous verdict which was given by the Administrative Court granting the Baha'is the right to enter their religion in identification cards and official documents. This verdict [by the supreme court] was regarded by a number of secular society organizations and human rights organizations as an assault on freedom of belief, and they announced that they will exercise all sorts of pressure on Egyptian authorities to recognize the rights of Baha'is, and that these affirmations were interpreted by the political circles that they indicate that these organizations will recruit the assistance of the American and Israeli embassies for that purpose."

2) The Response:

In refuting these slanderous allegations, it would be futile to descend to their level, or get engrossed in their mire. Instead, it will suffice to simply present only a couple of quotes from the vast ocean of Baha'i sacred writings that will clearly show the essence of the Baha'i Faith and its teachings regarding behavior, character and conduct. This will help elevate the standard by which such unfortunate and ill-advised attacks can be refuted.

"Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer to the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge. Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to no man, and show all meekness to all men. Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression. Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts. Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for the fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring. Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity, a pillar of the temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of mankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of virtue, a dew to the soil of the human heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge, a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom, a shining light in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit upon the tree of humility. We pray God to protect thee from the heat of jealousy and the cold of hatred. He verily is nigh, ready to answer." Thus hath My tongue spoken unto one of My Branches (sons), and We have mentioned it unto such of Our loved ones as have cast away their idle fancies, and clung unto that which hath been prescribed unto them in the day whereon the Daystar of Certitude hath shone forth above the horizon of the will of God, the Lord of the worlds. This is the day on which the Bird of Utterance hath warbled its melody upon the branches, in the name of its Lord, the God of Mercy. Blessed is the man that hath, on the wings of longing, soared towards God, the Lord of the Judgment Day.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 93)

"...Apart from these provisions Bahá'u'lláh exhorts His followers to consort, with amity and concord and without discrimination, with the adherents of all religions; warns them to guard against fanaticism, sedition, pride, dispute and contention; inculcates upon them immaculate cleanliness, strict truthfulness, spotless chastity, trustworthiness; hospitality, fidelity, courtesy, forbearance, justice and fairness; counsels them to be "even as the fingers of one hand and the limbs of one body...."
(Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 214)

These accusations and slanderous assaults presented by the extremist Islamist groups and propagated by fringe segments of the Egyptian media have no basis in fact or in reality. They only serve one purpose: to betray the nature and intent of those who propagate them.