In the Iran section the word "Baha'i" appears 93 times, in sentences like these:
According to law, Baha'i blood is considered "Mobah," meaning it can be spilled with impunity.
In December 2004 and January 2005, nine Baha'is in Yazd were arrested and briefly detained, with their homes searched and some possessions confiscated. On January 14, authorities summoned, questioned, and released another Yazd Baha'i, and four days later on January 18, four individuals came to his home and beat him with batons, inflicting severe injuries to his face, back, and arms. The same individuals, equipped with batons and communication devices, also attacked the home of another Baha'i later that day. On that same day, these same persons went to the home of a third Baha'i and attacked him with batons, causing serious head wounds. This third Baha'i was attacked again on January 25; on January 27 his shop was set on fire.
On February 2 and 3, the Baha'i cemetery in Yazd was destroyed, with cars driven over the graves, tombstones smashed, and the remains of the interred left exposed. Two days later, a gravestone was removed and left in front of a Baha'i's home, along with a threatening letter. The Baha'i community filed a complaint with authorities at the national level, but no action was taken. These events coincided with the launch of a campaign of defamation against the Baha'i Faith in government-controlled media.
We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer-up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment.... That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled -- what harm is there in this?
-Bahá'u'lláh
6 comments:
Thanks for the information.
Baha'i greetings from Portugal.
Yes, thank you.
If the US does anything in Iran similar to it has in Iraq, it might try a humanitarian appeal as well. That means the US would announce to the world the oppression of the Bahá'ís there. بله؟
.بله
That would be insane.
Hey, is today a Bahá'i holiday? I was on Wikipedia and it said that it was Bahá'u'lláh's birthday. It's obviously not akin to Christmas - from what I know, no divinity is prescribed to Bahá'u'lláh - but is there a celebration of sorts anyway?
(Apologies if I've misinterpreted anything here.)
Indeed it is - the Birth of Bahá'u'lláh is one of the nine holy days on which work is suspended and celebrations take place. It obviously doesn't have the cultural significance that Christmas does, but I think it does have approximately the same religious significance.
The Bahá'í view is that each of the Manifestations of God (Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Bahá'u'lláh, etc.) has a two-fold station. On the one hand they are lowly human servants, but on the another they are God - not in the sense that they are the incarnation of the essence of God, but rather because they manifest His qualities and attributes in a perfect way, and represent everything we can possibly know about God.
"Were any of the all-embracing Manifestations of God to declare: “I am God,” He, verily, speaketh the truth, and no doubt attacheth thereto. For it hath been repeatedly demonstrated that through their Revelation, their attributes and names, the Revelation of God, His names and His attributes, are made manifest in the world...And were they to say, “We are the Servants of God,” this also is a manifest and indisputable fact. For they have been made manifest in the uttermost state of servitude, a servitude the like of which no man can possibly attain." (Bahá'u'lláh)
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