Hezbu'llah Publicly Warns Baha'is of Iran

In its valiant efforts, the Muslim Network for Baha'is Rights (TMNBR) continues its unabated defense of the Baha'is in every land where they face persecution.

One of the most recent examples of bringing to light these atrocities, TMNBR reported on another form of intimidation that was publicized by the extremist group "Ummat Hezbu'llah" [people of God’s party].

The following is the full text of the post published on TMNBR:

Hezbu’llah’s warning to Baha’is
October 1st, 2007 by Admin II

The psychological pressure against the Baha’is of Iran reached a new height of hostility recently when on 7 Sept 2007 a public declaration was posted in Najaf-Abad (near Isfahan) from a certain “Ummat Hezbu’llah” [people of God’s party].

This declaration is titled “the first warning”, and begins by calling on “elements of prostituted Baha’is”, “spies of world domination” and “foreign traitors.”

It reads in part: “You thought that we would allow the country of the Imam Zaman [the Imam of the Age] to be a safe haven for you to propagate empty and void ideas authored by western imperialism, and like the idol-worshiping regime of Pahlavi, once again, for you to suck the blood of people and seize control of the nation’s economy.”

It continues, “For as long as the blood of [Imam] Husayn flows through our veins and hope of appearance of the illustrious Lord of the Age remains in our minds, we, the Hezbu’llah, will not allow the elements of the fifth column, who are enemies of Islam and Muslims, to arise and plunder and destroy our Islamic and Iranian beliefs and culture.”

Then there’s this curious statement: “On numerous times we have asked the authorities to stop you, the traitors! However, apparently, they do not have a hearing ear.”

It seems through this statement the perpetrators are attempting to portray their anti-Baha’i activities as non-governmental and representing the will of the people.

This warning-poster concludes with an ominous statement that if the Baha’is do not remain quiet and silent, there will be “another round.” This is a coded message meaning blood of Baha’is will flow.

It is also important to note that the stamp of the local judiciary of Najaf-Abad is on this warning.

A few days after this posting, using heavy equipments and bulldozers, the Baha’i cemetery of Najaf-Abad was completely destroyed, even trees were uprooted. This heinous crime follows a similar wave that took place in Yazd some weeks earlier. And a similar poster was given to the Baha’is of Vilashahr.

On the same subject, a very touching video was just published on YouTube at this link.

Official Egyptian Press Examines the Baha'i Case

The following is commentary on an extensive article authored by Ahmed Zaki Osman that appeared in Al-Qahera (a weekly published by Egypt’s Ministry of Culture) on Tuesday, 16 January 2007. Issue #353, p. 24. A pdf image of the article can be viewed at this link.

In the attached page that carries a fairly large picture of Abdu’l-Bahá (the son of Baha'u'llah, Founder of the Baha'i Faith), Al Qahira investigates the possible reasons behind the attack on Baha’is after the ruling of the first administrative court of 4 April 2006 that gave Baha’is the right to official documents required by the state for all transactions whether with various state departments or social institutions, banks, schools, universities etc…. The verdict was overturned by the Supreme Administrative Court, on 16 December 2006, to much jubilation from Islamist extremists both inside the court and in the papers, and to the amazement of Osman who points out in his article the confusion in self perceived roles on the part of members of parliament in particular.

The article is entitled: "Why was not the home of Islam big enough for all people, including the Baha'is...recognizing their rights to believe in whatever pleases their hearts?" In one of its subtitles the article points out that "Egypt's citizenship laws have never stated that adherence to divine religions should be a condition for citizenship."

Ahmed Zaki Osman, the author of the article, chooses as starting point what he calls the "geography" of the Baha’is' case. He quotes the famous geographer Gamal Hamdan who in his magnum opus "The Character of Egypt," has specified Egypt as the land most likely to manifest in all matters the rule of the 'golden means' and contrast, due to the rich variety of its demographic and historical heritage. Ahmed Zaki Osman carries this metaphor to its conclusion by highlighting the paradoxes in discourse that were rampant while the case for the Baha’is was being made public, albeit to underscore the underlying paradoxes rather than to demonstrate the positive aspect in Hamdan’s initial statement.

He scrutinizes the discourse of hegemony in a way that underscores what he suggests is a national ailment that he sees as fairly novel to the Egyptian scene, and arrives at the conclusion that Muslims are passing through an unprecedented phase of oppression, weakness and humiliation whereby it is difficult for the adherents of that faith to point to any achievement worth their while except in those societies where the preponderance of the population is not Muslim. He points to the fact that there are Muslim members of parliament in France, Britain, Germany and other countries and cites the fact that there is a Muslim woman judge in the United States; this however does not seem to impress Muslims at home with any message. They remain according to Ahmed Zaki Osman the victims of a monocular vision, unable to appreciate the invigorating elements in a healthy debate that rests on rational premises instead of vainglory and pride that derives its raison d’etre from an imagined threat in which all that is not Muslim is targeted for its own sake.

Ahmed Zaki Osman is not out to describe a persecution complex...far from it. What he is trying to do is to put in perspective the difference between handling a situation rationally or resorting to inflamed emotional rhetoric which is how he describes the responses that occurred from members of parliament who are otherwise noteworthy citizens. What he seems to be saying is that, in the absence of true democracy, frustration is taken out haphazardly without resort to either decency in dialogue or indeed an understanding of the roles designated by society to its judiciary, its executive and its representative bodies.

He describes a confusion of issues that allows members of parliament to draw their comments from their own personal leanings and feelings on a matter that falls within the realm of the courts and the institutions of justice and nothing else. To the extent that those members of parliament who raised the issue as intolerable, have addressed their request for questions in the house to the wrong minister! The minister they needed to address in order to voice a grievance such as their intention to deny a group of citizens the right to hold national ID cards with all what that implies, should have been the Minister for Interior and not the Minister of Religious Endowments!

This situation bespeaks, in the opinion of Osman, a degree of frustration and intolerance that stems both from annoyance with the political atmosphere as much as it is a manifestation of the confusion of issues that allow those politicians to play on the emotions of the public and to instigate their fears...though he does not accuse the parliamentarians who stand guard on Islamic pseudo issues--as was the case when the minister for culture made a denigrating remark (off the record) to a journalist about the veil, or when the Pope of the Vatican made his ill-advised references to history--of anything less than a misconception of their role in parliament.

The other reason Osman attributes the anger to is the lack of a mind educated to accept diversity and difference. He cites a famous dialogue between the Imam Muhammad Abdu and Sheikh Rashid Reda on the issue of the Baha’i faith. In the quotes he chooses, it is more than apparent that there was a steady and stable ground of enlightenment that ensured the rationality of the debate without either of the clerics condescending to haphazard accusations of the faith, its proponents or its leading figures. Indeed, Muhammad Abdu is quoted as saying of Abdu’l-Bahá that he is a very Great man. But then we must recall--says Othman--who the parties to that dialogue were, in a clear reference to their excellence, and thus the relative mediocrity of the current commentators and players.

Osman stresses what he calls "the geography of paradoxes" to indicate the clear schism between what a Nation thinks of itself, and what the reality of its discourse reveals. He describes the jubilations (Allah'u-Akbar!) that were loud in the court on the 16th of December, as an indication of a moral bankruptcy. As a matter of fact, he puts that scene under the subtitle: "The psychological defeat of the nation." He ends his article by posing a number of salient questions that all address the issue of the times when diversity is viewed as a threat and hopes that Egypt will overcome its current narcissistic, introvert outlook in order to regain its sense of dignity, rights for all its citizens whether poor or rich, Muslim or non Muslim, weak or strong.

To conclude, this writer challenges all the dogmas, delusions and illusions of the Islamist fundamentalist establishment which has triggered the government's appeal of the administrative court's ruling that had granted the Baha'is their rights. This challenge was introduced in the Egyptian parliamentary debate more than a month after the court's judgement and following several sessions during which the matter was never brought up. To make matters worse, these extremist individuals addressed the wrong minister regarding their issue. The article also points out the fact that the task of the parliament is not to police the judiciary and challenge court decisions, but rather act as a watch-dog to the executive branch of the government to ensure that the rights of individuals, whom they represent, are protected.

Furthermore, a secular member of the parliament, Dr. Zainab Radwan, a well known academician supported the recognition of the Baha'is, not because it is their right, but for a sinister reason--that is "to identify them so that the society can be protected from their influence"...not far removed from the Nuremberg Race Laws! Then, all of a sudden, the issue of "public order" was brought in, which in fact has absolutely nothing to do with this case, particularly when the disruption of public order, so rampant in the Egyptian society recently, has been caused by the exact same society elements which have been attacking the Baha'is....

Thus this whole matter which had emerged through the parliament, challenging a court decision that granted citizenship rights, has been illegal and out of jurisdiction all along. Even worse, the Supreme Administrative Court avoided the question at hand, and instead of ruling on the civil and personal status questions in front of it, resorted instead to take shots at the legitimacy of the Baha'i Faith!

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.