Only Crime of Baha’i Leaders in Iran is that they are Baha’is!
by Ahang Rabbani
27-Mar-2009
Over nine months have passed since the unexplainable, unreasonable and inhumane arrests of the leaders[1] of the Baha’i community in Iran. Throughout this time, baseless accusations have been hurled upon them and upon the Baha’i community in Iran through wide-spread, pre-planned propaganda. The present leadership and the government of Iran have joined hands to bring an end to the existence of the largest religious minority group in Iran by means of “gradual genocide”. They have made a profession for themselves of “killing human beings” and have been inflicting the most severe forms of physical, spiritual and psychological tortures upon the meekest of religious groups in Iran. The boldest of such instances can be witnessed in the “deceitfully devised” manner in which they have approached the innocently arrested leaders of the Baha’i community in Iran.
Judge Hassan Haddad, Tehran’s Deputy General-Prosecutor, announced on February 11 that the charges against the seven leaders of the Iranian Baha’i Community have been made and that their cases will be sent to the Revolutionary Court next week for indictment.
This news item can be viewed at: http://www.iranpresswatch.org/2009/02/featuretrial-of-seven-bahai-leaders/
This news indicates that the charges brought against the accused are “espionage for Israel,” insulting religious sanctities” and “propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”
As such, a reasoned analysis of each of these accusations is offered here.
1. The Accusation of “Espionage for Israel” A: A Historical Overview
The reason the matter of espionage for Israel is even an issue is because over 150 years ago, Baha’u’llah (the prophet-founder of the Baha’i faith) -- who had spent some time in a Tehran prison[2] under the most adverse of conditions and the most severe of torturous situations -- was exiled out of Iran at the instructions of the Qajar government. It was during the second half of the 19th century that -- through the designs of the two governments of Iran and the Ottoman Empire to distance Baha’u’llah from Iranian borders – Baha’u’llah was exiled first to Baghdad, then to Istanbul, and then to Edirne and finally to ‘Akka. As it happened, well over half a century later, meaning in 1948, the state of Israel was formed where Baha’u’llah had been banished to by the aforementioned governments. Given the obvious nature of the historical context of this situation; even if any accusations were to be made, they should be that Baha’is are agents of espionage for the Palestinians and that the Israelis are spying on the Baha’is -- not the other way around!
The question that is raised here is whether it is right for Baha’is to be accused of being agents of espionage for Israel based on this plain historical detail. Does the government of Iran consider its own people as children devoid of any understanding or historical knowledge? Is this not a weighty insult upon the integrity of the people of this nation; people who collectively constitute the nation’s greatest asset.
B: A Sociological Overview
In order to expand on this matter, it is best to start with an example. Let us suppose that we do not wish for our children to go out of the house to play with their friends. We can try an unethical method to convince them not to go out into the street: such as saying, “There are monsters in the street that eat children.” Subsequently, our children will be faced with great fear and will never attempt to go out to play in the street.
Now let us return to the matter of the accusation of “espionage for Israel”. It is a known fact that through the widespread of such anti-Israeli propaganda as denying the existence of the historical reality of the Holocaust; stating a will to wipe Israel off of the world map; showing Israeli killings of Palestinians in Gaza; or demonstrating other inhumane episodes in which Palestinian women and children are killed or severely injured, a public repulsion has been created in Iran towards the very expression of the word “Israel”! Here “Israel” is to the people of Iran the same as “monster” is to the children in the above example. It is used to spread fear in the people of Iran and incite them to do all that they can in attacking the “monster”!
This means that on the basis of the principle of “Othering” in sociology, Israel has -- in the perception of the Iranian society – been Othered with violation, barbarism, and such. Therefore if a claim is made in a far off village that a man is somehow associated with Israel, it is very likely that the people of that village would tear the man apart based on the preconceptions engraved on their minds by the Iranian regime.
Although the knowledge and insight of the people of Iran has reached a certain level of maturity that enables them to easily discern reality of things; yet accusing the leaders of the Baha’i community in Iran of being agents of espionage for Israel is a way of taking advantage of this principle of “Othering” in sociology. It is a pathetic attempt to upturn the truth by provoking and inciting the people for the purpose of creating in them a sense of suspicion towards the Baha’i community.
“Israel” is merely a name – a name for which the Iranian nation does not hold any pleasant memories. Therefore, if we were at this instant to claim that a certain famous football player, for example, is also an “Israeli spy”, we have in reality taken advantage of the anti-Israeli feelings latent in the subconscious of the people of Iran to turn them against the said football player. Making the accusation against the leaders of the Baha’i community in Iran that they are spies for Israel is thus completely baseless.
C: A Methodological Overview
Another approach in denying this accusation is by looking at some of the plainly evident ordinances of the Baha’i Faith. By looking at the teachings of this divine religion, we come face to face with the instruction that exhorts the Baha’is “not to interfere in politics”. It is interesting that individuals, who consider themselves Baha’is and who based on their religious teachings refrain from interfering in politics, are labelled with such laughably baseless accusation. Is it possible to refrain from interfering in politics, but yet be agents of political espionage for a country?
Another approach to the denial of such an accusation is its mere credulity. Even if we were to assume an impossible hypothesis that the leaders of the Baha’i Community are Israeli spies; how is it that they have been recognised as such only now after all these years? Would a government that is so strongly anti-Israel allow the presence of Israeli spies in Iran for even a mere second? Would making such an accusation not question the credibility of the operations of Iranian Intelligence? Does this mean that the Baha’is have – for nearly 170 years – been Israeli spies, and the Iranian Intelligent has only now discovered this fact? Would the acceptance of such a thing conform to human understanding and reason? Would this great insult to the intelligence of the people of Iran not be considered the greatest of historic accusations?
In light of the above arguments, accusing the leaders of the Baha’i Faith with espionage is completely and absolutely baseless and devoid of any logical or scientific foundation; and it can therefore be easily dismissed.
2. The Accusation of “Insulting Religious Sanctities” A: A Historical Overview
Over a century and a half ago, the Baha’i Faith, one in the series of independent religions, appeared in Iran. Inasmuch as this world religion places all the divine Faiths within a progressive purpose in this world, the Baha’i Faith considers itself a new independent religion after Islam. In other words, the Baha’i Faith is the only independent religion that recognises the divinity of the sacred religion of Islam.
On the other hand, in the same way that through the revelation of Islam, some of the ordinances of Christianity – which did not correspond to the needs and conditions of the time – were changed; some of the teachings of Islam were also changed after the revelation of the Baha’i Faith. However, Baha’is -- given the special respect that they cherish for the sacred religion of Islam -- have overcome all religious prejudices and consider only the Word of God as the axis of their judgment. The respect of the Baha’i Faith towards Islam is to such a degree that a special and separate Tablet of Visitation has been revealed by Baha’u’llah for Imam Husayn (see http://www.iranpresswatch.org/2009/01/bahaullahs-visitation-tablet-for-imam-husayn/). Therefore to accuse the Baha’is of insulting Islamic sanctities is to play with the emotions and religious sentiments of the intelligent nation of Iran. This is while in reality not only the Baha’is respect and value Islam and Muslims, but they also respect and value all religious and non-religious thoughts and beliefs for the sake of the freedom of thought and speech.
B: A Sociological Overview
Humans are essentially creatures who show strong reactions in the face of change. The characteristic inherent in human nature to preserve conditions as they are is so strong that whenever noblemen have appeared in the course of history to bring about improvements, they have been faced with the people’s severe resistance to change! Examples of these cases can be studied in the book Jama’eh Shenasiyeh Nokhbehkoshi[3]. The point is that governmental authorities in Iran take advantage of this characteristic in Iranians in order to further their own aims. This means that the people of Iran – given their close ties with the religion of Islam -- are possessed of certain special religious values; and since the governmental authorities are aware that these religious values have been intertwined with the belief system of the people of Iran, they try to make it appear that the Baha’is are against such values.
On the basis of sociological principles, if a claim is made that Baha’is insult the sanctities and values of Muslims in Iran; then naturally because humans are unable to endure the fact that others are willing to insult their values, Muslims would turn against the Baha’is and wish for them the gravest of punishments.
Therefore, making the accusation of “insulting religious sanctities” is again taking advantage of a simple sociological principle; while the Baha’is have proven both through their religious teachings and views as well as in their practical lives that they are respectful of all thoughts and views from any religion. Not to mention the fact that the Baha’i Faith is in fact the only religion that recognises the divinity of Islam.
C: A Methodological Overview
Accusing the leaders of the Baha’i Community in Iran of insulting Islamic religious sanctities is based on childish, illogical, foundations even from a methodological point of view. First, one needs to consider what constitutes such religious sanctities. Is it not true that the values of a divine religion are unique and sacred for all the followers of that particular religion? Is it not true that the teachings, ordinances and history, etc. of Islam are sacred to each and every Muslim? Therefore, if we can prove that the Baha’i Faith recognises Islam and accepts it as a true and sacred religion, we can also prove that the Baha’is, too, regard Islam in the same way as its own followers. It is thus a given fact that the leaders of the Baha’i Community in Iran hold the same views and that accusing them of insulting Islamic religious sanctity is baseless and devoid of any methodological foundation.
In further arguing this point, we can refer to some quotations from the Baha’i Writings in relation to this matter:
What could have been the evidence produced by the Pharisees and the idolatrous priests to justify their denial of Muhammad, the Apostle of God when He came unto them with a Book that judged between truth and falsehood with a justice which turned into light the darkness of the earth, and enraptured the hearts of such as had known Him?
-- (Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 81)
As to Muhammad, the Apostle of God, let none among His followers who read these pages, think for a moment that either Islam, or its Prophet, or His Book, or His appointed Successors, or any of His authentic teachings, have been, or are to be in any way, or to however slight a degree, disparaged. The lineage of the Báb, the descendant of the Imam Husayn; the divers and striking evidences, in Nabil's Narrative, of the attitude of the Herald of our Faith towards the Founder, the Imams, and the Book of Islam; the glowing tributes paid by Bahá'u'lláh in the Kitáb-i-Íqán to Muhammad and His lawful Successors, and particularly to the "peerless and incomparable" Imam Husayn; the arguments adduced, forcibly, fearlessly, and publicly by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, in churches and synagogues, to demonstrate the validity of the Message of the Arabian Prophet…
-- (Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come, p. 108)
What greater proof, it may be pertinently asked, can the divines of either Persia or Turkey require wherewith to demonstrate the recognition by the followers of Bahá'u'lláh of the exalted position occupied by the Prophet Muhammad among the entire company of the Messengers of God? What greater service do these divines expect us to render the Cause of Islam? What greater evidence of our competence can they demand than that we should kindle, in quarters so far beyond their reach, the spark of an ardent and sincere conversion to the truth voiced by the Apostle of God, and obtain from the pen of royalty this public, and indeed historic, confession of His God-given Mission?
-- (Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come, p. 108)
These very clear verses from the Baha’i Writings can be taken as witnesses to the fact that the religious sanctities of the divine Faith of Islam are sacred to and respected by the Baha’is. Therefore again we prove that the accusation against the leaders of the Baha’i Community in Iran of insulting Islamic religious sanctities is absolutely baseless and devoid of foundation.
The question that can be repeated here again has to do with the history of the Baha’i Faith going back to over 160 years. Has the Iranian Government only now -- after the lapse of a century and a half from the inception of the Baha’i Faith -- arrived at the realisation of such a weighty crime by the Baha’is? Another question is whether the Iranian Government considers its own people devoid of any true understanding and knowledge? Does the Government not realise that the people of Iran are intelligent enough and possessed of sufficient knowledge in their own religion, and thus quite capable of responding to the Baha’is in the unlikely event that the Baha’is would insult Islamic religious sanctities? Are these religious sanctities identified by the Government of Iran and the country’s leadership or by the generality of the people?
Based on the above argumentation, the matter of the accusation of insulting Islamic religious sanctities cannot even be raised, because the mere merit of raising the issue indicates that the government is claiming that the people of Iran have been devoid of any comprehension or understanding over the past 160 years. Therefore making such an accusation will – more than anything – turn the accusatory pointer back to the government itself!
3. The Accusation of “Propaganda Against the Regime”: A: A Historical Overview
In light of the fact that the history and literature of the Baha’i Faith goes back to more than 160 years ago, while on the other hand the Regime of the Islamic Republic is 30 years old, the hypothesis that the Baha’i Faith is opposed to the present regime is completely null and void.
On the other hand, if we take a look at the beginnings of the movement of the Islamic Regime in Iran; we will see that after the Islamic Revolution, a historic wave of “Baha’i killings” began surging in Iran, resulting in the innocent sacrifice of the lives of a great many members of the largest religious minority group in the country -- meaning the Baha’is. Historical facts indicate that the members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Iran were first to be executed and that their only crime had been their adherence to the Baha’i religion. In other words if the same individuals were to turn away from their religion, and would not introduce themselves as the followers of the Baha’i Faith, perhaps today many parents would be alive and living amongst their Baha’i children. However, since the dissimulation of one’s religious belief is not permissible in the Baha’i Faith, a Baha’i cannot – for as long as he/she is an adherent of this Faith -- deny his/her belief. Therefore an overview of the historical facts demonstrates that -- given their moral and metaphysical constitutions -- the Baha’is simply cannot under any circumstances have undertaken any propaganda activities against the Islamic Regime in Iran; nor will they ever be able to undertake any such activities in the future. Therefore again any such accusations against the leaders of the Baha’i Community in Iran is absolutely baseless and devoid of any foundation.
B: A Sociological Overview
In essence, when a society wishes to define its social structure in a wide sphere, it needs to identify a difference between those who “belong” and those who are “the others”. In this respect, “those who belong” are associated with the mental, educational and governmental disciplines of that society; while the “others” are evaluated independently of such disciplines.
Therefore, the Government of Iran is yet again taking advantage of another sociological principle and is trying – by overstepping one of the most fundamental legal rights – to introduce the Baha’is as the “others”; place them in the opposing side against the people of Iran; and consequently label them as “others” with the accusation of propaganda against the present regime. In reality, the Government of Iran is engaged in a paradoxical manoeuvring. It knows on the one hand that the Baha’is are citizens of this country and are therefore considered part of the Iranian nation; but on the other hand it is trying to separate this part of the nation from the whole and -- by placing it aside from the rest -- introduce the Baha’is as “the others”! Therefore the baselessness of this accusation in a sphere of sociological definition can easily be proven. The leaders of the Baha’i community simply cannot have attempted any propaganda against the regime of a people, where they themselves are part of the political structuring of the same society. Such an attempt would mean rising against one’s own regime, and surely the leaders of the Baha’i community are more intelligent than to do such a thing. Therefore the accusation of propaganda against the Islamic Regime in a sphere of sociological definitions is automatically denied and its baselessness is quite apparent.
C: A Methodological Overview
Accusing the leaders of the Baha’i Community in Iran of propaganda against the regime, introduces a great number of fundamental problems even from a methodological point of view.
The best approach to this matter is to refer to some quotations in the Baha’i Writings:
According to the direct and sacred command of God we are forbidden to utter slander, are commanded to show forth peace and amity, are exhorted to rectitude of conduct, straightforwardness and harmony with all the kindreds and peoples of the world. We must obey and be the well-wishers of the governments of the land…
-- (Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 440)
Such obedience and submission is made incumbent and obligatory upon all by the clear Text of the Abha Beauty. Therefore the believers, in obedience to the command of the True One, show the utmost sincerity and goodwill towards all nations; and should any soul act contrary to the laws of the government he would consider himself responsible before God, deserving divine wrath and chastisement for his sin and wrongdoing.
-- (Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 293)
Based on the quotations that are cited above, one can easily deny this absurd accusation of propaganda against the Regime. Because quite simply if a Baha’i ignores the above exhortations from the Baha’i Teachings and disobeys its government, he/she is no longer considered a Baha’i. The leaders of the Baha’i Community in Iran are “Baha’is” and have always obeyed their government, and therefore the accusation against them of propaganda against the regime is completely and absolutely baseless and devoid of any foundation.
One could raise the question as to what exactly is “propaganda against the Regime”. Based on the above argumentation, meaning given the fact that Baha’is consider themselves duty-bound to obey the government as part of their belief structure and that their values compel them not only to love their people and nation but also to serve them sincerely, could such an accusation even in the form of a question ever be addressed to the Baha’is?
It seems therefore that the aforementioned accusation by the government has no logical basis and that in fact the Iranian Government is guilty of making an accusation that is fundamentally faulty in the extreme.
Now that we have examined procedurally the accusations hurled at the leaders of the Baha’i Community, and -- by analysing them based on various principles – proven the baselessness of those accusations, one fundamental question is raised and that is:
What then is the crime of the leaders of the Baha’i Community in Iran?
In order to respond to this question, it should be mentioned that – given the transparency of their activities and the moral and ethical values with which they are associated for being Baha’is -- the leaders of the Baha’i Community in Iran are not guilty of any political misdeeds, and that their only crime is that they are “Baha’is”. This is the very crime that has led to the sacrifice of the lives of a great many Baha’is during the reign of the present regime of the Islamic Republic.
Yes, the leaders of the Baha’i Community in Iran are now being kept incarcerated merely because of their beliefs; while the Iranian Government, in contradiction to the Iranian Constitution which promotes the freedom of belief and religion, is trying to cover up the real reasons for the arrest of the Baha’is and instead is accusing them of political crimes.
It should now be easy for any reasonable individual to judge justly as to whether the crimes of the leaders of the Baha’i Community in Iran are indeed what they are being accused of or if they are guilty merely of their religious beliefs?
[1] A national-level committee in charge of coordinating the activities of the Iranian Baha’i community.
[2] The Siyah Chal [Black Pit] was an underground dungeon in which Baha’u’llah spent four months with a heavy chain on his neck.
[3] A book by Ali Rezagholi, in which he discusses the root causes of despotism in the Iranian society and deals with three political figures in Iran such as Qaem-Magham Farahani, Amir Kabir and Dr. Muhammad Musaddegh.
[4] A committee of 9 elected by the representatives of the Baha’i community in a given country, in charge of the affairs of that Baha’i community. At the onset of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, members of this national committee were executed. However, since Baha’i administration is now banned in Iran, the Baha’i community no longer elects this National Spiritual Assembly, and its affairs are coordinated by a temporary group of seven, all of whom are now standing accused by the Iranian Government as this article explains.
Iranian.com - http://www.iranian.com/main/node/59989
Commentary: Stop religious persecution in Iran
Story Highlights
- Rainn Wilson: I'm a member of the Baha'i faith, founded in the 1800s in Iran
- He says the faith has been persecuted on and off for 150 years
- Seven Baha'i leaders are going on trial in Iran on a variety of charges, he says
- Wilson: Ask your congressman to support a resolution on the Baha'is
By Rainn Wilson
Special to CNN
Editor's note: Actor Rainn Wilson plays paper salesman Dwight Schrute in the television comedy "The Office."
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Rainn Wilson says fellow members of his Baha'i faith are being persecuted in Iran.
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(CNN) -- Why is Rainn Wilson, "Dwight" on "The Office," writing a news commentary for CNN? Good question.
It's a bit strange for me, to say the least; a comic character actor best known for playing weirdos with bad haircuts getting all serious to talk about the persecution of the fellow members of his religious faith.
Dear readers of CNN, I assure you that what I'm writing about is no joking matter or some hoax perpetrated by a paper-sellin', bear-fearin', Battlestar-Galactica obsessed beet farmer.
I am a member of the Baha'i faith. What is that, you ask? Well, long story short, it's an independent world religion that began in the mid-1800s in Iran. Baha'is believe that there is only one God and therefore only one religion.
All of the world's divine teachers (Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Moses, Abraham, Krishna, etc.) bring essentially the same message -- one of unity, love and knowledge of God or the divine.
This constantly updated faith of God, Baha'is believe, has been refreshed for this day and age by our founder, Baha'u'llah. There. Nutshell version.
Now, as I mentioned, this all happened in Iran, and needless to say the Muslim authorities did not like the Baha'is very much, accusing them of heresy and apostasy. Tens of thousands were killed in the early years of the faith, and the persecutions have continued off and on for the past 150 years
Why write about all this now? Well, I'm glad you asked. You see there's a 'trial' going on very soon for seven Baha'i national leaders in Iran.
They've been accused of all manner of things including being "spies for Israel," "insulting religious sanctities" and "propaganda against the Islamic Republic."
They've been held for a year in Evin Prison in Tehran without any access to their lawyer (the Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi) and with zero evidence of any of these charges.
When a similar thing happened in 1980, the national leadership of the Iranian Baha'i community disappeared. And this was repeated again in 1981.
In fact, since 1979, more than 200 Baha'is have been killed, holy places and cemeteries desecrated, homes burned, civil rights taken away and secret lists compiled of Baha'is (and even Muslims who associate with them) by government agencies.
It's bad right now for all the peace-loving Baha'is in Iran who want only to practice their religion and follow their beliefs. It's especially bad for these seven. Here's a link to their bios. They're teachers, and engineers, and optometrists and social workers just like us.
This thought has become kind of a cliché', but we take our rights for granted here in America. Imagine if a group of people were rounded up and imprisoned and then disappeared not for anything they'd done, but because they wanted to worship differently than the majority.
There is a resolution on the situation of the Baha'is in Iran being sent to Congress. Please ask your representatives to support it. And ask them to speak out about this terrible situation.
Thanks for reading. Now back to bears, paper and beets!
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Rainn Wilson.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/02/17/wilson.faith/index.html
Obama: What’s next?
What barrier to break next? Now that race has finally become irrelevant, nationalism and religion loom large. How to reconcile nationalities and ethnicities? How to achieve peace between religions? Not 'tolerance', but 'peace'. Tolerance is like saying: 'The Muslim errs in good faith'. It means you believe he is wrong, but you will - perhaps with gritted teeth - tolerate his wrong thinking, because you start from his good faith.
Tolerance is the first step, but it is not peace. The second step is respect. You still believe the other to be wrong, but you admire his faith and the way he practices it. From respect flows the third step, i.e. genuine peace. You are no longer interested in right or wrong. You accept the other's faith and thinking in its own terms. And even though you may think differently, trust has been established. Differences will no longer lead to bitter controversy.
The Baha'i faith
Talking about tolerance. The Baha'i faith maintains that a man called Baha'u'llah, living in the 19th century, was the latest prophet, the second coming of Christ. It takes tolerance for Muslims and Christians to allow Baha'i's to freely believe and proclaim this, to let them 'err in good faith'. For Muslims claim that Muhammad was the last Prophet and that Baha'u'llah, therefore, is an impostor and blasphemer.
Christians are still expecting the second coming of Christ and therefore reject Baha'u'llah's claims. Jews reject both the Muslim and the Christian claims. So it will be clear that tolerance is called for. Baha'i's themselves respect Jesus, Muhammad and Moses and claim that all three were prophets, each giving important social and religious teachings for their times. But they believe that revelation evolves progressively and that Baha'u'llah was the latest (not necessarily the last) of a series of prophets and that there are many more to come as mankind evolves.
Many Baha'í's have been persecuted and killed for their belief, especially in Islamic countries, as the Baha'i religion is seen as blasphemous of Muhammad by many Muslims. But what do Baha'i's actually believe? It can be summed up in the following ten simple statements:
- All humanity is one family;
- Women and men are equal;
- All prejudice - racial, religious, national and economic - is destructive and must be overcome;
- We must investigate truth independently, without preconceptions;
- Science and religion are in harmony;
- Our economic problems are linked to spiritual problems;
- The family and its unity are very important;
- There is one God;
- All major religions are one in God;
- World Peace is the crying need of our time.
Tolerance, respect, peace
It may be difficult for Christians and Muslims to be tolerant of Baha'u'llah's claim to be the second coming of Christ. But how can anyone in his right mind not respect these ten basic statements? In fact, if we want peace, we desperately need these Baha'i beliefs. Our daily video, made by a group of teenagers, makes it plain and simple why the Baha'i approach is so sensible. Enjoy it and have a laugh at the same time.
Visit original site for the video:
http://www.arcocarib.com/article/obama-whats-next/
A Campaign of Persecution Against a Faith of Tolerance
Haifa, Israel
Earlier this summer, Unesco added the Bahai holy places here to its list of World Heritage sites. Bahai officials greeted the announcement with enthusiasm. "[It] highlights the importance of the holy places of a religion that in 150 years has gone from a small group found only in the Middle East to a worldwide community with followers in virtually every country," said Albert Lincoln, secretary-general of the Haifa-based Bahai International Community. The Bahais, dedicated to the idea that all great religions teach the same fundamental truths about an unknowable God, now number more than five million. Mr. Lincoln added that the group is "particularly grateful to the government of Israel for putting forward this nomination."
Impressive Bahai houses of worship stand in dozens of cities, from New Delhi, India, to the American headquarters in Wilmette, Ill. But each faces the steep slope of Mount Carmel on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, a 100-acre site that contains the Bahai archives and the Universal House of Justice, a neoclassical building that houses the faith's elected nine-member international governing body and a staff of more than 600. At the literal and spiritual center of the site stands the shrine of Mirza Ali Muhammad, known as the Bab ("Gate"), the forerunner who in 1844 heralded this youngest monotheistic faith, and who is buried here in a golden-domed mausoleum.
Though the Bab was executed for insurrection and heresy in 1850 in Tabriz, Iran, his followers brought his remains to the Holy Land in the 1880s, and buried them here in 1909, at the instruction of the faith's founder, Mirza Hussein Ali. The Bahá'u'lláh ("Glory of God"), as the founder is known, himself arrived in the area in 1868 as a prisoner of the Ottomans after he had been banished from Persia, charged with revolutionary activities and of conspiring to assassinate the shah.
These days, the complex attracts over half a million visitors a year, including Bahai pilgrims who come for nine-day visits, and tourists who come to stroll the immaculate curving terraced gardens that set off the shrine -- nine above it, and nine below. The terraces, designed by Fariburz Sahba, and completed in 2001, correspond to the 18 original Bahai disciples. They require some 80 gardeners and an annual cost of about $4 million to maintain.
Yet not all goes placidly for Bahaism. For all the benevolence its members enjoy from their Israeli hosts (following an instruction of Bahá'u'lláh issued shortly after his arrival here, the religion neither seeks nor accepts converts in Israel), they suffer miserable persecution in Islamic countries. Nowhere more so than in Iran, the cradle of the faith.
In May, six leaders of the Bahai community were arrested in Tehran; they remain incommunicado. The arrests are but the latest ripple in an undercurrent of decades-old hatred directed at a faith regarded as a Muslim heresy. During the Pahlavi regime (1927-79), the Bahais' schools were forced to close, and their literature was banned. The shah's army disfigured the Bahai National Center in Tehran in 1955.
After the ayatollahs' revolution of 1979, things got even worse for Bahais. Revolutionary Guardsmen destroyed the Bab's house in Shiraz and erected a mosque over the rubble. Later, they razed the mansion that had belonged to the Bahá'u'lláh's father. Iranian officials bulldozed Bahai cemeteries in Najafabad and Yazd, and desecrated the grave in Babol of Quddus, an early disciple of the Bab.
Those incidents began a systematic, government-sponsored purge. Bahais were banned from universities, subject to intimidation and arbitrary arrest, and denied the freedom to worship. All Bahai civil servants were dismissed. In 1991, the secretary of Iran's Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council, Seyyed Mohammad Golpaygani, issued a directive, personally approved by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declaring that "employment shall be refused to persons identifying themselves as Bahais." Some of the faithful were denounced as Zionist agents and tortured. In all, the Bahais say, more than 200 of their own have been executed in Iran since the revolution, including 10 Bahai women hanged for teaching religious classes to children.
It is difficult to imagine a purer strain of religious intolerance than the fanaticism that pervades Iran's leadership class. It is just as difficult to conjure a purer essence of tolerance than that which distinguishes the Bahais, who recognize Abraham, Krishna, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad as divine messengers; who preach pluralism, equality between the sexes, universal education and the harmonization of secular and religious knowledge; and who stress the oneness of humanity, to the point of explicitly encouraging interracial marriage.
Intolerance hates tolerance most of all. At the very moment Unesco has chosen to recognize what it calls the "outstanding universal value" of the Carmel shrines and what they stand for, the mullahs are moved to persecute these believers who emerged from the very heart of Islam -- and who represent a future that fanatical Islam has so disastrously chosen to reject.
Mr. Balint, a writer living in Jerusalem, is an editorialist for the Jerusalem Post.
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