Iran persecution of Bahai

The endangered status of the Bahai minority in Iran is underlined this week as three members are jailed for four years for "security offences" .  Fifty one others have suspended sentences and must attend re-education; the crime is "propaganda" and proselytising in Shiraz under cover of helping the poor.  Iran recognizes  only Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism, and the last three can have trouble too.  But the Bahai have had particular problems  because of the "heresy" that Baha'u'llah' is a prophet of God. Mohammed,  founder of Islam, declared himself to be the final prophet centuries earlier. In 1996 Reuters quoted  the most senior judge in Iran, Ayatollah Mohammed Yazdi, saying that the Bahá'í faith "is not a religion but an espionage establishment".

Comments

[Yunus]

Sometimes, its the absence of any analysis that screams volumes about where a blog is coming from.

The reasoning behind the Iranian judicial pronouncements alludes to how Bahais are represented as being a creation of the colonial West (Ahmaddiya suffer similar accusations). Whether that is fair judgement is a moot point.

The recent persecutions might perhaps be better understood as a side effect of racheting tensions between Washington and Tehran, rather than simply the product of implied Shi'i irrationality.

[Dr. Irene Lancaster FRSA]

The Bahai Centre is here in Haifa and is regarded as one of the great religious miracles of the world.

I was recently given a guided tour of the Bahai Temple and Gardens by one of its senior administrators. He told me that, like the Jews, the Bahais are in mortal danger from militant trends within Islam in general, and from Iran in particular.

[RW]

Mmm, Dr Irene Lancaster, having checked out your website, I think we can safely say that you prove Yunus' point for him. Thanks.