World Learning of Bahai Plight

          
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          World Learning
          Of Bahai Plight
          Persecution in Iran Puts Focus
          On Religion's Doctrine of Unity
          By KEN KUSMER : ,.
          • Associated Press
          • HAIFA, Israel -‘— The solem- Moses, Jesus,. Buddha, lfrishna
          nity of the Bahai World Center and Zoroaster.
          dominates picturesque Mount “We are nOt a sect. We are
          Carmel here. The golden- not a section or part of'any-
          domed Shrine of the .Bab glis- thing,” Barrett said in a recent
          tens in the hot summer sun and interview. ‘Because our roots
          • . two white marble edifices stand are in Islam, people tend to
          amid rows of manicured gàr- . think• we are an Eastern. reli-
          • dens. . . . gion to lump us as an offshoot
          The tranquillity here differs of Islam.
          dramatically from the mood “Until recently, there has
          750 miles away. in Iran, where been. very little knowledge
          • •. another ugly cl apter in the about the Bahais,” Barrett said,
          faith's brief history Is unfold- “But because of the persecu-
          • ing.. tions in Iran we have become
          Bahais there are imprisoned the focus of world attention.”
          sent to the gallows or forced Already, the United Nations,
          from their jobs by a govern. the European CommOn Market,
          ment that considers them here- the U.S. House of Represents-
          • tics, subversives prostitutes .tives and the national parlia-
          and Zionist spies. ahai shrines, • ments of Canada, Australia,.
          have been bulldozed., Fiji and West Germany have•
          In June, .the situation in, Iran passed resolutions condemning
          deteriorated drastically.. The the persecution.
          fundamentalist Islamic regime
          of Ayatollah Ruhollah Kho- As secretary-general, Ear
          ineim scoffed at an appeal by rett represents Bahai concerns
          President Reagan for the lives . on behalf of the top Bahai. ad-
          • of 22 Bahais and executed 17 of ministrative body, the Interfla. :
          them in the space of two weeks. tional House of Justice. A sil-.
          The .Bahal center claims two ver-haired, affable Arnerican .
          other prominent Bahais were and former senlor:legal counsel
          kidnapped on the streets of Teh- ‘ for the Gulf Oil Corp., .Barre(t,
          ran, while 130 Bahai men, wom- 55, is the .chief Bahai spokes-
          I en and children were held cap- man, explaining the faith's lit-
          • tive by neighboring villagers tie-known history and beliefs
          • and preSsured to re.cant their and answering the charges Iran
          faith. Meanwhile, the official has leveled against Bahaism.
          • Iranian news agency IRNA re- Bhhaism was founded in 1844
          ported that 50 Bahai families and has spread to .134 nations
          had converted to Islam. with more than 2 million adher-
          • “We are alarmed and very ents. Its largest.communlty — 1
          concerned that the extent and. million — is iii India, and It has
          the, Intensity (of the ‘persecu- 100,000 followers In the United
          tion) may .be Increasing,” said States, where It is ‘headquar-
          Donald Barrett, secretary-gen-' tered in the Chicago suburb of
          eral of the Bahai international Wilmette, Ill..
          organization: ‘ Bahaism has consistently
          Jewish: author .Elie Wiesel,. been persecuted In the land ‘of
          the chairman of the U.S.' Rob- , its birth,' then called. Pei sia and
          caust Memorial, recently sug- now. Iran, and has been banned
          gested that the U.N. human at least partially In several 0th-
          Rights Commission probe the er, predominantly Moslem
          plight of the Bahais in Iran. countries, Including Iraq,
          “We all vowed after. the Nazi Egypt, Morocco, Syria and
          outrages -. never again. Now is . Indonesia. ‘
          • the time to act' on that vow,” . Bahaism is the largest minor-
          Wiesel said, ‘ ‘ ‘ ity religion in Iran today, with
          The Bahai leadership claims an estimated 400,000 members,
          that since the Khomeini tegime' but is not protected under the
          gained power in'1979, 142 Ba- constitution'of the Islamic re-
          hais have been killed and 14 are , public as are other minority
          missing and presumed dead, faiths like Judaism, Christian-
          About 275 are imprisoned. ‘ . ity and Zoroastrianism.
          Bahaism, often erroneously “Now It Is virtually imoossi
          ,referred to as an Islamic sect, ‘ bie (for a Bàhai) to leave fran,”
          embraces the unity of all rell- ‘ Barrett said. “Why? We're the
          glons, and besides Mohammed, , scapegoats. If the war with Iraq
          It considers among its prophets goes bad, blame the Bahais. If
          Donald Barrett, secretary-general of the Bahal Shrine of Bab on Mount Carmel in Haifa, 1 racl.
          International Community, stands before the ‘ The sh,rinéIs a Bahal prophet's burial place.
          the crop goes bad, blame the Baghdad, where he had.been ex- qf Zionist espionage, a charge
          Bahals. ‘ , ‘ . iled from Persia 10 years earli- , that for many years caused the
          Bahai leaders claim that Ira- er in the aftermath of the Dab's world center here to avoid corn-
          nian Bahais are guilty only of execution. ‘ ‘ ‘ mont on theiranian situation.
          membership in the faith, and According to Bahai litera- ‘, Because Bahaism's roots are
          that conversion ‘to Islam offers ture, the popularity of Bahaul- in Islam, Iran, regards it as a
          immediate freedom, for incar , lab's teachings was his undoing, heretical sect and a threat to
          cerated Bahais. ‘ , ‘as ‘local rulers viewed him as a Islam.
          Bahaism has been regarded ‘ threat and successively ban- I But Barrett argues: “We are
          as a heresy to Islam since ,the , ished him to the Ottoman Oen- the only, other major religion to
          founding of the faith in 1844. ters of Constantinople and recognize Mohammed a's a
          Mirza ali-Muhammed, now Adrianople and finally tO Acre, prophet and the Koran as a holy
          worshipped by Bahais as the eight miles north of Haifa. book.”
          Bab — the Gate' in Arabic —. Baha iIiah eventually won Bahalsm is as distinct from
          announced in the southern Per' relative freedom in Acre, and Islam as Christianity is from
          sian city of Shiraz then that a died there in 1892, and Acre and Judaism, he added. “We seek
          new prophet was coming. The Haifa together serve as the unity in diversity. We are not
          Dab and 20,000, other' Bahais spiritual and administrative seeking unity in tameness.”
          were executed within the'next center ,of the faith. About 250 ‘ Iran also chargesthe llahais
          ‘six years. , , Bahais — all officially, connect- cooperated with, the ‘previous'
          The new prophet, Mirza Ru. ed to the center — live In Israel, ‘ Iranian monarchy, but a b'asic
          sayn All, known as Bahaullah ‘ The influx of Bahal money Bahai tenet demands obedience
          — The Glory of God— pro” • and pilgrims to Haifa has trig' to government and forbids par-
          claimed himself in 1863 in , gored the Iranian accusations , ticipation in partisan politics.
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