Sep 22nd, 2007
Wandering in the paths of delusion
And if thou art overtaken by affliction in My path, or degradation for My sake, be not thou troubled thereby. Rely upon God, thy God and the Lord of thy fathers. For the people are wandering in the paths of delusion, bereft of discernment to see God with their own eyes, or hear His Melody with their own ears. Thus have We found them, as thou also dost witness. Thus have their superstitions become veils between them and their own hearts and kept them from the path of God, the Exalted, the Great. Bahá’u'lláh, Bahá’í writings
I opened my emails today to discover that last week a Bahá’í cemetery in Iran was bulldozed - the latest in a long series of incidents against the Bahá’ís fostered and led by the present government of that country, a campaign that stretches back now nearly 30 years.
Heavy equipment was used to bulldoze the cemetery near Najafabad between 9 and 10 September and more than a hundred graves were destroyed.
Bulldozed? Graves were bulldozed? I am shocked and deeply saddened by this horrible event. Can you imagine how traumatizing it mut be to realise that your loved one’s final resting place has been bulldozed? And this is not the first time this has happened. It is the second time in two months that a Bahá’í cemetery has been destroyed in Iran - the Bahá’í cemetery in Yazd was also extensively damaged last July. And some years ago the cemetery in Tehran met a similar fate - a cemetery where some of our relatives were buried.
Lest you think that the present destruction was some sort of accident, know that some 30 Bahá’í families in Najafabad received threatening letters in the days before the cemetery was destroyed.
How can anyone think this is right? How can anyone think that this is what one human being is supposed to do to another? Such people are definitely `wandering in the paths of delusion’.
The human rights violations against Bahá’ís and others in Iran is growing. As Diane Ala’i, the representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva, said, `This should be a cause for concern among human rights activists everywhere.’
Too right! In the past these kinds of attacks have often been a prelude to campaigns of oppression and violence that are much worse - not just for Bahá’ís but for everyone.
Ms Ala’i noted that recently `the Iranian authorities have been carrying out a widespread crackdown on civil society, targeting academics, women’s rights activists, students, and journalists.’ `Civil society’ is everyone, by the way - you and me.
Read the whole story here, if you can bear to.
Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Baha’i International Community, human rights violations in Iran
This really is utterly appalling. Sadly, it is in line with so many things that are being done to the Baha’is in Iran right now in a horribly systematic way: economic strangulation, denial of access to higher education, bullying of Baha’i children in school by teachers, anti-Baha’i propaganda, expropriation of property, forced repayment of salaries and pensions - the list goes on an on.
I am deeply fearful for the short-term future of the Baha’is in Iran. However, the Baha’is are steadfast and committed to making their country a better place. The community will survive despite the depredations being wrought against it. It will do more than survive. It will flourish.
Even now, many Iranians outside of Iran are horrified at what is happening to their country, which has been the cradle of at least two great civilizations. The Baha’i Faith offers Iran the opportunity to be the cradle of another great civilization based in deep spirituality and justice.
[…] can read the comments of a couple of Baha’i bloggers here and here. And you can read the Baha’i World News Service story […]
Baha’i Cemetery Destroyed in Iran…
I checked my emails and RSS feeds this evening (having had a busy, internet-free morning) to find this story from the Baha’i News Service about the bulldozing of a Baha’i cemetery in near Najafbad in Iran. Yeah, that’s right, bulldozing……
Only a lunatic tries to fight the dead!
It seems fundamentalism and insanity walk hand in hand.
Pondering this morning on some of the religious education in the world. I think it falls into high path and low path approaches. In the high path approach, the teachers nurture the developing mind so that it soars above the animal nature we are all born. In the low path, the teacher tries to subdue the animal by force and makes it do things by force. In the western secular nations, those who have been educated by the low path become anti-religious. In the religious nations, those who have been educated by the low path become fanatics. Both can become haters. And haters feed off their animal nature, sometimes dressing it up. Thus Jesus said, “Beware of Wolves in Sheep clothing”.
Terrible and unbelievable.