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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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