ACCEPTANCE

Dear Poya Shoghi, Let's be honest with each other.

Dear Poya,

Baha'i' assemblies were all disloved shortly after the Islamic Revolution by the Baha'i's as soon as the government declared them illegal. It means that Baha'i's do not have elections, do not teach their Faith to their fellow citizens. However, they still get married, have children, they die, they pray, they fast, they teach themselves and their children the Baha'i' Writings, etc. Those activities have not been declared illegal by the government. In fact, they are reported to the officials in Iran by the Baha'i's.

I wished that 1% of your attention toward breaking the Laws by the Baha'i's was spent on the government and the individuals who broke their own Laws when they executed, tortured, and persecuted, the Baha'i's. However, please note that the rights of the minority are more important the rights of the majority since that is unit of the measurement of freedom in a society. If you and the other fellow Iranians had seriously and honestly complaind against the first persecution of a Baha'i' in Iran, we could not have had the current society which no one has such rights.

Double Standard!

After posting the following post in “Six Bahá’í leaders arrested in Iran” not only my post got deleted again, but I lost the privilege/ability to post any other comments in that discussion. You be the judge are these people any better than the current regime in Iran.

 """I'm aware of at least 4-5 posts that have been deleted from here today. Two of them were from me, and the other ones from another user (that I did not even know - now go ahead and say that was me too!) that has emailed me after seeing my previous post. The hypocrisy is overwhelming here. The people that complain about being oppressed and not given their freedom in Iran, once they have the ability to manage/modulate something as simple as this discussion, become the oppressors and can’t take any opposition. What it shows is that you guys are no better than the akhounds, you are just powerless. If you had the power in Iran, you would probably be worse."""

Wrong premise, wrong logic, and wrong conclusion...

...indeed is refreshingly out of the box thinking! 

In contrast with Islam, Christianity and Judaism, the Baha'i sacred writings consist of several categories which together form the blue-print for a New World Order in which  mankind is united and that religion is no longer the source of discord.  These categories are Laws (The Kitab-i-Aqdas, The Most Holy Book), Prayers and Meditations , Will and Testament (Vasaya), Tablets on various subjects (Alvah).  Each are a rich collection of writings authored by Blessed Beauty (Jamal-e Mobarak), Baha'u'llah.  For more on this visit, //reference.bahai.org/en/ .  These were revealed in the twin languages of revelation, Persian and Arabic, during the Baha'u'llah's 40 of years of imprisonment and exile.  The original texts are archived and preserved at the Baha'i Archives.  Here we have no question of authenticity.  So there goes the premise of the article.  The Baha’is do have Sacred Writings revealed by their Prophet, Baha’u’llah.

As for wrong logic, I need only say we have set our standards and expectations to be so low that when we read that the process is being followed, we are moved to think that we have reason to be hopeful.  Hardly, my fellow countrymen.  The Baha'is consider Iran as the cradle of  their Faith and as such the land and its people are to occupy a station of respect and nobility amongst the family of nations.  The Baha'is in these difficult times speak with hope not because of the evidences to the contrary but because they believe that the blue-print for a New World Order positions Iran in its rightful place. So rather than setting low expectations, Baha’is have the highest expectations for Iran and this is why they are not dismayed by the recent events, as these are the expected pain and suffering of a new birth.  The IRI has delt the final blow to institutions of faith in Iran.  A new structure will only be built after the old is demolished.  You need only to see for yourself to what lengths the regime needs to go to safeguard the outward precepts of religion and faith in Iran. What goes on behind closed doors tells a different story.

 Finally, the conclusion cannot be anything but flawed, if the premise and the logic have been shown to be baseless.  Those that are sincere and independently investigate matters, will read on to reach their own conclusions.  Others, will swing from one branch to another, each time hanging onto one argument and perspective.  Search for truth (Taharieh Haghigaht) requires that a seeker to be deliberate and be willing to go to the source and rely on no one else’s interpretations, including mine! 

Alborz

دوستان

This is very interesting. Your approach is novel, efendi.

I sincerely support your point of view. You are thinking out of the box - something desperately needed by us Iran-borns. More than anything we need ghanoonmandi, ehteraam beh ghanoon then democracy, human rights and all kinds of freedoms will follow. Those of us to lived under the despotic regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi never experienced the phenomenon of hokumat-e ghanooni, therefore this regime and the one before it are very similar from the point of view of having a lawful society. I aslo believe very strongly that citizenship is much more important than being one of the "people-of-the-book".

To : Hasanm

Dear Friend:

 I don't know how my comment contributes to the legitimization of the oppression. I am saying oppression of a religion is wrong, with, or without a 'heavenly book'.

 Ayatolla Montazeri states although fergheh eh(!) Bahaii lacks 'heavenly book', they still need to be under the protection of the Iranian Constitution.

 As someone who lives in a free society, where your faith- or lack thereof- is considred a personal matter, I fail to see the significance of 'heavenly book'.

 That's all.

some comments contribute to the oppresion

to Ali P.
you seem not to get the point that we are not talking religious legitimacy here. We are talking the rights of some Iranians who believe in a religion diffierent than the majority and are being fiercely persecuted because of that. People like you, with such comments, contribute to the legitimization of the oppresion.

justifying rampant injustice and tyrany

This article shows how the writer is disguising his anti-Baha'i prejudice in the garment of "logical" solution to the demise of Bahais in Iran. He is trying to justify the obvious tyrany of IRI against Baha'is and to justify the totally unlawful of the arrest of the Baha'is leaders.

Your comments obviously

Your comments obviously sound very logical to me but in my opinion you are disregarding the fact that the recent events in Iran and even the letter you have shown above are not any thing new to the Baha'i community in Iran.These policies have been enforced upon this community since 30 years ago and never have been changed.There have been some controversies and chaoses but the main policy has been the same so as a child-raised-in-a-baha'i-family I don't think that these recent moves can be considered as any new reform toward baha'i rights.

Bahai's have not only one book but many.

The reason for this rumor is that , Bahai books are full of reasoning as why in this age of humanity we do not need clergy to guide us , and we have to investigate the truth independently.

just go to www.bahai.org and find the wast # of books and writings of Bahaullah.

it is an ocean of knowledge .

Respectfully,

Tahirih

"Heavenly Book"

I never understood this: What is the big deal about a 'heavenly book'?

  Anyone can write a book and claim it is heavenly! (Like some people who already have!)

 If you pile up a book, and call it 'heavenly', then are you legitimate, and can enjoy some rights under the IRI?

For heaven's sake...

interesting but simple

You might be following the path of Mr. Khatami, who promoted the lawfulness of the Iranian people and equality of the law for every rank of the society. Hope that you are right and we are moving toward a lawful society. If the laws are equal for every part of the society, then there is hope, even if the laws makes no sense. Yet I am not sure if we are there and the law apply equally to all. Regardless, Bahai religion should be recognized. I can't say much until I see some kind of democratic progress within Iran...