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Today is Blog Action Day on the theme of poverty. Over 9,000 bloggers are around the world are blogging about this today.

I am sure many blogs will look at the characteristics and manifestations of poverty:

* lack of income sufficient to ensure a sustainable livelihood

* lack of productive resources sufficient to ensure a sustainable livelihood

* hunger

* malnutrition

* ill health

* limited or lack of access to education and other basic services

* increasing morbidity and mortality from illness

* homelessness and inadequate housing

* unsafe environments

* increasing criminal activity

* social discrimination

* exclusion

* lack of participation in decision-making

* lack of participation in civil, social, political and cultural life

* human trafficking

These are, in a manner of speaking, symptoms of an ill world. Endeavours to eradicate poverty focus on changing these — and they need to be changed. But we must ask ourselves — why have these symptoms arisen? What the root causes of illness of humanity, if I can put it that way?

The Baha’i Faith suggests that there are two underlying causes to the present illness of the world, to the growing poverty of much of its population and, in another context, to its lack of peace. These are, first, its lack of unity and, second, its reliance on materialistic solutions alone.

The Lack of Unity in the World

Bahá’u'lláh wrote that the `dis-ease’ afflicting humanity, the root of its illness, is its lack of unity.

I would suggest that we rarely consider that the disunity of the human race is the cause of its lack of prosperity. Rather, we tend to think of poverty as the absence of money — and that is certainly part of it. However, to think that poverty is exclusively an absence of money encourages people to think that the answer to poverty must then be money. We often hear people talking about `throwing money at a problem’ (in both the positive and negative senses) or `throwing good money after bad’ and `throwing money into a black hole’ (when referring to economic aid or charitable giving, for example). These last remarks are intended, I am sure, to underscore the frustration ordinary people and governments experience grappling with the issue of poverty — the feeling that no matter what you do, poverty is never going to go away — `the poor are always with us’. However, they do highlight the crux of the matter: poverty is not simply an absence of money and its solution is not merely a question of adding more money. Even when you add money, the basic, underlying problems causing poverty and keeping people poor are not really resolved. Money does not really change attitudes. Money does not always give people dignity. Money is needed, yes, but it needs to come with a whole host of concepts and values and visions that make the application of money worthwhile and its effect both positive and permanent. We have also seen the ill effects of simply giving people money — the creation of a `hand-out’ society that does not encourage people to work, to use resources wisely, etc. The other side of this is that extreme wealth — and most westerners can be considered to be extremely wealthy in contrast to most of the rest of the world — also creates problems — the `you owe it to me’, `I’m-all-right-Jack’, `there is no such thing as community’, `every man for himself’, indulgent, fat, wasteful, unthinking sort of society the flawed nature of which this very week we have all witnessed.

Recent UN conferences have highlighted that the resolution of poverty — of indeed any human problem, is something more than merely money. Effective political will, participatory decision-making, trustworthiness and transparency in governance and much more are pointed to as necessary prerequisites for the eradication of poverty, for the growth of prosperity universally. However, even these cannot be forthcoming unless we understand the interconnectedness of the human race, its singleness and wholeness, and begin to act in ways that demonstrate that connectedness. That is, until we begin to act as if we ARE all members of one human family, we will continue to show the illness of disunity.

When Baha’u'llah wrote to Queen Victoria in 1868 he compared the world to the human body. The various cells, organs, tissues, bones, parts and so on of the body are all different but are all required to function together to make the body achieve its potential. When one part of the body is in pain, or is unfit, the rest of the body is aware of it responds — the whole body feels unwell and is unable to function properly when even a tiny disorder occurs — think of having a cold or even a splinter in one’s finger.

So too the human race, Baha’u'llah says.

This idea seems very simple but in fact touches on the organisation of the entire social fabric. As Donne says, no man is an island. The sorrow of one is the sorrow of all. This sentiment now must move beyond the poetic and into reality. It requires a fundamental rethinking and restructuring of all the social and economic institutions of the planet.

Reliance on materialistic solutions alone

The Baha’i International Community has for years been striving to put before humanity a radically different approach to eradicating poverty.

It points out that the assumptions underlying most development planning and poverty-action programmes are essentially materialistic, that is, their purpose is to bring to all societies the means of achieving the kind of material prosperity that already exists in other parts of the world. We are now learning that the materialistic way of life is not, perhaps, all that great. Some of the features and characteristics of poor communities are also features of very wealthy communities and individuals and are not very attractive or worth having: increasing mortality from illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, increasing criminal activity, family breakdown, domestic violence, increased emotional health disorders, increased reliance on drugs and substances and material possession to fabricate happiness, increased workplace stress, the use of trafficked women and children for sexual pleasure, falling literacy rates, corruption, lawlessness and the trivialization of politics.

This is not to say that material things are worthless or, in some patronizing way, to suggest that people who do not have material things should not strive for them, as they are more dangerous than valuable. Nor am I suggesting that now that westerners have everything, we have discovered how hollow these things are and so `warn’ the rest of the people not to aspire to them (and thereby ensuring that we continue to hog them for ourselves). The Bahá’í Faith does not teach that poverty is a wonderful state to be in. Rather, Bahá’ís recognize that all people need good housing, food, jobs, health care, education and water, as well as beauty, art, fun and leisure in their lies. But by focusing solely on the amelioration of material conditions, without addressing the underlying issues that keep people in poverty on the one hand and create completely unsustainable gross wealth on the backs of those very people on the other, we will not be able to eradicate poverty or the extreme wealth that feeds it.

Thus as well as focusing on the immediate needs of people - providing food and fresh water and shelter and health care - even greater effort is needed to find and apply values, spiritual concepts and principles that will transform individuals, governments and social systems around the globe and provide a prosperous life for everyone.

By `spiritual’ I do not mean here vague ideas and pious hopes of sweet sentimentality. Rather I mean that cluster of practical virtues and values born out of a vision and understanding of God’s purpose for humanity that underpins our relationships with each other at every level — personal, family, community, national and global. We can identify some of these virtues as absolutely imperative for the smooth running of any social unit, whether it be the family or the world: justice, trustworthiness, honesty, courtesy, patience, love, selflessness, etc.

What this comes down to is recognizing the spiritual dimension of human reality and fostering a culture in which the moral, ethical, emotional and intellectual development of the individual are of primary concern. Such an orientation enables individuals and communities to become constructively engaged in the processes of their communities, to be service-oriented and to work for the material and spiritual well-being of the whole community, rather than to store up wealth for themselves. The big challenge — while we are simultaneously trying to keep people from starving - is to redesign and develop our communities around those principles such as love, honesty, moderation, humility, hospitality, justice and unity — which promote social cohesion and without which no community is sustainable for long.

So, are there any signs that the world is responding to the need for this new paradigm?

First, there is a growing consciousness that the root causes of poverty need to be examined and changed. We used to think the root causes of poverty were people’s laziness, colour, race or want of `civilization’. We are now beginning believe the root cause to be basically a lack of global social cohesion — that is, a lack of unity, which begets a lack of caring.

Second, this consciousness has been expressed by the international community in more and more cogent forms in the last half decade. And not only by governments but by NGOs, civil society and partners of all kinds from business to the academics to the scientists. The solutions proffered are more and more basic, more and more fundamental — not merely the provision of money, of shelter, or services — important as these are — but recognition that it is attitudes that must be changed if the money applied is not going to go down a black hole. At a simple level, ethical standards must be raised if aid is to get to those for whom it is intended and not line the pocket of a profiteer.

Third, there is a growing awareness of the need to take account of the spiritual dimension of human reality and there is beginning to be the political and social will to seek to foster a culture in which the moral, ethical, emotional and intellectual development of the individual are of primary concern.

What are some of the elements that we need to develop if we are to combat poverty? They are the same ones we need to develop is we are to make our societies less crime-ridden, more gentle, less violent:

* an increase in the understanding of the essentially spiritual nature of the human being and a recognition that a person’s spiritual needs must be met as well as his or her physical ones — indeed without attention to this area, no plan of material welfare will really stick — spiritual values are the foundation of material progress and prosperity

* the development of a new work ethic — Baha’u'llah says that work done in the spirit of service to others is worship

* stewardship of the earth’s resources

* ethical practices in government and business

* a consciousness of the concept of unity in diversity

* new forms of governance need to be developed that are value-driven, participatory (on all levels — local, national, international), and transparent

* fostering the advancement of women and the participation of women at all levels of governance

* the development of the spirit of service and voluntarism

* the extension of virtues-based education

* the development of conflict avoidance and resolution through consultation

* the promotion of the family as the basic unit of the community and assistance to the family to enable it to provide for its members

Interestingly, UNESCO’s (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) programme for the eradication of poverty has many of these elements:

* to denounce intolerance and prevent the development of social apartheid between the `city of the citizens’ and the `city of the excluded’

* to affirm solidarity as a fundamental value of democracy and human rights: the encouragement of cultural and social pluralism and the promotion of integration through social policies.

* to promote a culture of peace

* development and peace are intimately linked: aim at peace-building

* turn people into citizens through education in citizenship

Will we be able to eradicate poverty? It seems to me that we can only do this by a radical rethink of the nature of our selves and our communities, locally, nationally and globally. We have the technology — we now need the vision and the will — first to change ourselves. Baha’is accept that Baha’u'llah has provided the vision — we have to provide the will.

(PS - Have a look at the Baha’i International Community’s publication Eradicating Poverty: Moving Together as One)

Technorati Tags: Bahai, Baha’i, Bahá’u'lláh, poverty, poverty eradication, blog action day, education, UNESCO, unity, financial meltdown

In the midst of all the news about the global financial meltdown, I read today that Iran is planning to produce a car for women, with various features that will make it easier for women to do the things women tend to do - carry the shopping, take children to school - and make driving simpler for them - satnavs, automatic transmissions, parking guides. They will come in an array of `feminine’ colours.

Is this a nod towards equality - recognition that women’s needs differ from those of men - or stereotyping women as the only ones who deal with food and children and as too incompetent to drive a real car?

Iran is not at the top of the global league of countries observing human rights and women’s rights and it will come as no surprise to learn that a recent report concluded that professional Iranian women are increasingly frustrated by their lives.

Perhaps, then, they will begin to look at the teachings of Bahá’u'lláh, founder of the Bahá’í Faith who was born in Iran in 1817 and taught the equality of women and men. So many lies are told about the Bahá’í Faith in Iran that it is hard for anyone to get accurate information about it, least of all women, I would have thought. But if Iranian women are denied equality, then they really should look into the Bahá’í Faith and use its teachings to create a more just society, not only for themselves but for all Iranians.

I am sure that the lack of equality of women in Iran is bound up with the general denial of human rights there. Iranian women will not be completely equal so long as those in authority continue to prevent the extension of human rights to all people - including Bahá’ís. If women could educate themselves in the principles of the Bahá’í Faith, they would find the courage and the tools that would enable them to change their whole society for the better. The alternative is to remain unequal and frustrated for, as `Abdu’l-Bahá says, `until this equality is established, true progress and attainment for the human race will not be facilitated’.

There are many ways to get accurate information about the Bahá’í Faith: try http://www.bahai.org/ and http://www.bahaullah.org/ for official sites, or our own home webpage: http://www.northill.demon.co.uk/bahai/index.htm

These are all in English. Persian language materials are at: http://reference.bahai.org/fa/

Women simply must take responsibility for their own futures. They need to drive the future, not just a car.

Technorati Tags: Bahai, Baha’i, Baha’u'llah, Iran, women, women drivers, equality of women and men, human rights, cars

Some people are just born to travel. Others are born to write. Some can do both.

When she was 14, she earned enough money from her writing to pay for a trip to Niagra Falls. Before she was 30 she was a seasoned newspaperwoman writing for a weekly magazine - editing the automobile section. Oh, this was in 1901.

In 1908 she heard of the Baha’i Faith and by 1909 she was a Baha’i. She met `Abdu’l-Bahá when He travelled to the United States in 1912. Inspired by Him and by the Bahá’í teachings, she determined to take the Bahá’í message to as many people as possible. So, on 30 January 1915 - in the middle of the winter and the middle of First World War and all alone - she set sail from New York on the first of her eight extended travels, four of them around the world.

She travelled to China and Japan four times, nearly froze to death crossing the Andes on a mule, spoke at about 400 universities and colleges, learned and taught Esperanto, inducted royalty into the Bahá’í Faith, facilitated the translation of Bahá’í literature into many languages, published hundreds of articles on the Bahá’í teachings in newspapers and magazines all over the world. She was an eccentric dresser but was not a light packer, travelling with `mountains of luggage’ and carrying with her everything she owned.

Thousands of people heard about the Bahá’í Faith through her efforts over a quarter of a century. You can hear her here, reciting a Bahá’í prayer.

She died on this day in 1939. She was Martha Root.

Technorati Tags: Bahai, Baha’i, `Abdu’l-Bahá, Esperanto, Martha Root, packing, travel

Today was a very bad day for British travellers. Overnight, the third largest package travel company in the country, XL, went into receivership, stranding up to 90,000 tourists in some 100 countries and leaving some 200,000 people who had already paid for their holidays without air transportation. Its going to be difficult to find flights home for so many people!

For those who thought they might get around by travelling back to the island of Britain by car or train, a big fire in the Channel tunnel means that it has been closed all day. While some reports say that the tunnel may be opened again very soon, the last time there was a fire of this magnitude the tunnel did not become fully operational for several months.

I suppose I should mention the cost of fuel, which is being blamed for the demise of XL and which means that car drivers (not to mention other ground transport) are facing huge bills - the cheapest I have found is £1.09 a litre in Derby (that was today - I went there for a meeting of the trustees of the Multi-Faith Centre) - around here the lowest price is £1.12 a litre.

A few years ago it was a series of train accidents that closed many of the main lines into London and created transport chaos. The London Underground has many lines closed most weekends, as essential repairs to the Victorian system are carried out.

Transportation, in all its forms, is increasingly expensive and unreliable in all its forms. But despite the cost and difficulties, we still continue to travel. Many of us have to, just to get to work. We know that we are using up dwindling fossil fuels, that we are creating pollution that is contributing to global warming, that we drive when we could walk or take public transport. We recognise the irony of travelling distances to conferences where we talk about how we can tackle climate change.

Changing the way we travel will mean changing the way we live. Somehow we will have to find ways to develop communities where people can work closer to where they live, without requiring people to live in unpleasant surroundings near factories or industrial estates, or urbanising the rest of the countryside. We need to think about reshaping work itself, not just to make it more sustainable in terms of the environment but also to take account of the different needs of women employees, older people, those with disabilities and those who have responsibilities for elder care.

We need to think about how we bring up our children, whether we will allow them to walk to school, play outside, go to the park, ride bicycles, climb trees or whether we think that these are such dangerous activities that they should be prohibited or curtailed.

We need to think about what we eat, how it is produced, where it is produced and how it is stored and transported.

The complexity of the decisions we need to make about how to live more lightly in the future should not be underestimated. We can’t simply relocate people, make cities disappear, grow food on unsuitable land. We cannot make the environment entirely risk free for our children. We can travel more efficiently and economically but we probably can’t stop travelling.

If the planes are still flying and the trains still running, I shall soon be travelling to the Netherlands to attend the European Bahá’í Business Forum annual conference at De Poort where many of these things will be discussed. I do recognise the irony! The conference theme is `Growth or Sustainability? Defining, Measuring and Achieving Prosperity’. It is over subscribed, so there are no more places left, but there will be an online experience - a blog with the videos of the talks and the possibility to interact with participants and other interested individuals. Check out http://ebbf.org/ac2008-latest.html from next Friday. You will get a lot of the benefits of the conference without increasing your carbon footprint or having to suffer the transportation meltdown!

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, European Bahá’í Business Forum, De Poort, channel tunnel, XL, environment, climate change, transportation

Tonight I chaired a packed public meeting called by the Member of Parliament for Bedford and Kempston, the `big’ town about 8 miles from my home. The speakers were Patrick Hall MP, Frank Branston, the Mayor of Bedford Borough, Inspector Mark Everett of Bedfordshire Police and Cliff Codona, Chair of the National Travellers Action Group and Chair of the UK Delegation to the European Roma and Travellers Forum. The subject was the gypsies who have been travelling into Bedford and camping illegally on open land, and the meeting was called `to examine what should be done’.

At a pre-meeting discussion, we checked with Cliff what terms we should use for his people. He was happy with `gypsies’, `Roma’, Romany, travellers’, so I use these terms interchangeably.

The audience numbered some 160 people - standing room only - and was made up largely, it would appear, of local people whose lives have been disturbed by the large numbers of travellers coming into the town and camping for several weeks at a time. The audience also had a good number of councillors from the county and borough councils, some plainclothes police officers, a few people who work closely with the travelling community and some well-wishers of the gypsies. Oh, and two Bahá’ís.

The issues are complex and people feel strongly in many directions. It is difficult to select out one main complaint. It is the case that over the past couple of years greater numbers of travellers have come to the town. It is also the case that they have taken up positions on open land owned by the Borough Council and on other land. It is the case that they have stayed on these sites illegally, often for several weeks. It is also the case that some of the sites occupied by the travellers have been left in a mess. It is the case that the behaviour of some of the travellers has been anti-social and some has been criminal.

On the other hand, it is the legal responsibility of the Council to provide sites, both permanent and transit, for travellers. It is the case that the Council has not provided the requisite number of `pitches’ for the gypsies. It is the case that this has been the situation for many years. It is also the case that the Council takes legal action to move on travellers who are camping illegally. It is also the case that there is a complicated web of agencies and authorities responsible for different aspects of `the problem’. The law defines how these agencies can act and limits what they can do. The police can only work within the law. It is the perception of many people that each agency or authority says it is the other one that is responsible in any particular situation.

It is clear that just about everyone is unhappy. The people who live near the illegal camping sites feel overwhelmed and threatened and are angry that the travellers leave rubbish everywhere, let their dogs run around, do not control their children and that bikes and cars are driven across parks and open spaces leaving ugly scars. They say there is an increase in crime, that insults are hurled at them, that there is a lot of noise and dirt and that they have lost the quiet enjoyment of their own homes. They say that the gypsies do not pay taxes, that they do not work, that it costs a huge amount to clean up after them and that the systems to move them on are slow and ineffective. They want their rights respected. Many believe that the gypsies are beyond the reach of the law and that they are privileged above the legal residents in that gypsies are not penalized for infractions of the law for which others pay fines or are arrested.

The gypsies feel unwelcome in the area. They say it is difficult to find legal places to stay, places to which they are entitled. They are subject to abuse and discrimination. It is difficult to get their children educated. They are harassed by local people and the police move them on peremptorily. Most of the them are tidy and considerate people who earn a living, pay taxes, take care of their children and have pride in their homes. They are just as annoyed by people who break the law, leave rubbish around and make trouble for their neighbours. They are `tarred with the same brush’ as other gypsies who act in anti-social ways and feel they cannot escape the negative image of them portrayed in the media and held by residents.

Politicians cannot agree on a single way forward, a solution that is realistic and do-able. The time frame for finding a solution is either too far away or cannot be rushed. The answer is either very simple or very complex. Either the cost is too great or there is plenty of government money which is not being accessed.

Well-wishers of the gypsies are annoyed that the residents appear to be prejudiced against them and do not try to understand or get on with them. The well-wishers themselves took quite a bit of flack from the audience.

The police are frustrated because no one seems to understand the legal limits within which they have to work and the nature of their job: residents believe they do not act promptly and that they overlook criminal acts; gypsies believe they are harsh and interpret the law to the disadvantage of the travellers.

So it was a tense evening. Having said that, the meeting progressed pretty well. The speakers were excellent and, from their own perspectives, answered the questions thrown their way. The audience was generally cordial, although there were a few hecklers. I felt the meeting could have done with a bit of humour but it was clearly considered too serious a meeting for that.

But as I drove home, I thought how different this encounter was from what had happened seven years ago this very day. Today, people who clearly have a dispute with one another came to a meeting in a public place and talked about it. Yes, many were angry. Yes, the way forward is not simple or straightforward or even clear. But the people of Bedford listened and talked and listened. Mostly, they were courteous to one another and to the speakers. They did not resort to violence or use weapons or become unruly. It was a mature response and, mostly, a measured one.

And I also thought how great it is to live in a country like Britain where there actually ARE rights for all people. While it is true that some people think the `others’ have all the rights and that their own rights are not respected or upheld, by and large all people are entitled to the same rights and privileges, each person and group of people have the same responsibilities as others, there are laws that apply to all people, there is a justice system that generally deals with all people `without fear or favour’, and the democratic system is open to all — this in contrast to so many other parts of the world. I think of the Bahá’ís in Iran and how such a meeting about them could never take place there.

And I also think about the fact that there are probably very few groups of people who positively welcome gypsies as members as the Bahá’ís do, who are hugely excited when a Romany joins them, who think of them as having `continent-wide importance’ in Europe.

And I still pray that, one day, Bahá’u'lláh’s solution to all problems will be taken up everywhere:

O well-beloved ones! The tabernacle of unity hath been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch. We cherish the hope that the light of justice may shine upon the world and sanctify it from tyranny. If the rulers and kings of the earth, the symbols of the power of God, exalted be His glory, arise and resolve to dedicate themselves to whatever will promote the highest interests of the whole of humanity, the reign of justice will assuredly be established.
Baha’u'llah

Technorati Tags: Bahá’í, Baha’i, Baha’u'llah, Patrick Hall MP, Frank Branston, Bedford Borough, Inspector Mark Everett, Cliff Codona, National Travellers Action Group, European Roma and Travellers Forum, 9/11

So much time has passed since last I wrote this blog that I almost feel like a stranger to it myself!

I have been here - working on two marvellous books (the second volume of Udo Schaefer’s massive and impressive Bahá’í Ethics; and Baharieh Ma`ani’s fascinating portraits of women in the families of the Báb and Bahá’u'lláh: Leaves of the Twin Divine Trees: An In-depth Study of the Lives of Women Closely Related to the Báb and Bahá’u'lláh – both published by George Ronald, out later this year)

and there - attending an European Bahá’í Business Forum (EBBF) conference at the Bahá’í conference centre in Acuto, Italy

here - co-coordinating an exciting, intensive and hugely enlightening Bahá’í teaching project in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire

there - attending the Irfan Colloquium, also at the Bahá’í conference centre in Acuto, Italy

here - enjoying the company of family and friends at our two picnics in memory of Knight of Bahá’u'lláh Ted Cardell

there - facilitating a course on `Relationships, Marriage and Family’ at the Northern Ireland Bahá’í Summer School

here - meeting my `long lost cousins from across the sea’ - distant relatives Jane Aslett (a Morris, from the mother’s father’s side of the family) and her husband Geoff, from Brisbane, Australia

and there - the highlight of the summer, cruising from Miami to Mexico with many members of my family and some friends (32 of us!) to celebrate my mother’s 80th birthday! and taking the grandchildren to Disney World as well

But while all these great things have been happening in my life, there are some lowlights:

* at least 22 Bahá’ís are imprisoned in Iran because they are Bahá’ís. You can read about it here. They are still there.

* three Bahá’ís in Yemen are arrested and face imminent deportation to Iran. Read about that here.

* frustratingly, young Bahá’ís in Iran are still unable to access higher education. Read what Ahmad Batebi, who is not a Bahá’í, says about this in his essay published on 2 September 2008 in Persian in RoozOnline, and here, translated and annotated by Ahang Rabbani.

Despite this, the teachings of Bahá’u'lláh are becoming ever more applicable to the world’s present situation, and more and more people - including in Wellingborough! - are beginning to appreciate their efficacy. And then there is this promise of `Abdu’l-Bahá:

These seeds which are scattered here and there are spreading strong roots in the bosom of the earth and these will develop and grow until many harvests are gathered. Rest thou assured.

Technorati Tags: Bahai, Baha’i, European Bahá’í Business Forum, Irfan Colloquium, George Ronald, Ahmad Batebi

Observe how dear thou wert that He guided thee to the Kingdom of Light, and how near to His Threshold, that He granted thee admission into His Court. Thou wert poor in spirit; He led thee to the Heavenly Treasure. Thou wert in quest of illumination; He enlightened thee through the rays of the Sun of Truth. Thou wert athirst; He led thee to the Spring of Life. Thou wert sick; He bestowed upon thee the Heavenly Remedy. `Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í writings

If you were looking for answers to the difficult questions of today, it is unlikely that you would travel thousands of kilometres to seek them from a person serving a life sentence. How much more unlikely would be your quest if the prisoner had only a childhood experience of a free life, spoke a language you did not and was at that very moment under the threat of immediate execution. And even more improbable would be your quest if you were a well-off American woman of less than 25 years, travelling alone into the volatile Middle East.

Yet this is what Clifford Laura Barney did at the beginning of the 20th century. While she was studying in Paris, around 1900, Laura met May Bolles. Laura was about 21 years old at the time. May introduced her to the Bahá’í teachings and soon afterwards Laura went to `Akká to visit the life-long prisoner, `Abdu’l-Bahá, who had been exiled and then incarcerated along with His father 50 years previously. That first visit was very short indeed: almost immediately `Abdu’l-Bahá asked Laura to leave and to visit holy sites associated with the life of Christ. `Abdu’l-Bahá wanted her to understand how people had treated Christ so that she would be better able to deal wih the sort of opposition she would surely encounter as she taught the Bahá’í Faith.

Still in her twenties, Laura returned a number of times to `Akká between 1904 and 1906, staying for lengthy periods in the home of `Abdu’l-Bahá, who was then living in the mansion known as the house of Abdu’llah Pasha. As she sat with `Abdu’l-Bahá at His dining table, she asked Him a long series of questions on religious and spiritual themes and on the topical issues of the day - from the nature of God to biblical prophecy, from science and religion to industrial strikes, from evolution to what to do with criminals. The range of the questions is remarkable, considering Laura’s youth, and prescient.

`Abdu’l-Bahá could not speak to Laura every day but she `could well be patient’ - she had come to `Akká with the intention of learning more about the teachings of Bahá’u'lláh and she had lots of time for this study.

Not so `Abdu’l-Bahá. `Abdu’l-Bahá was not young, nor did He have time on His hands. His life was threatened during the whole of the period that Laura stayed in His home and He was busy overseeing the building of the Shrine of the Báb, dealing with hostile government officials, looking after the Bahá’í community and ministering to the health and welfare needs of the people of `Akká. `I have given to you my tired moments,’ `Abdu’l-Bahá told Laura, as He rose from the table after answering one of her questions (SAQ, p. xvii).

Many of the answers given by `Abdu’l-Bahá were fairly short but so impressive and insightful that Laura arranged to have them recorded. Thus another visitor to `Akká, Ethel Rosenberg, the first English woman to become a Bahá’í, wrote down Laura’s questions and recorded `Abdu’l-Bahá’s replies as translated into English by Dr Yúnis Khán Afrúkhtih, a secretary of `Abdu’l-Bahá [side note here: Yúnis Khán is the great-great grandfather of my grandchildren (!) through their father], while Mírzá Múnir, another secretary, recorded the answers as spoken by `Abdu’l-Bahá in Persian.

Laura explained that the answers to her questions `were written down . . . not with a view to publication, but simply that I might have them for future study’. The English notes of Ethel Rosenberg were transcribed and translated in Persian and `Abdu’l-Bahá read them, `sometimes changing a word or a line with His reed pen’ (SAQ, p. xv). The result was a large collection of talks giving a unique insight into the teachings of Bahá’u'lláh on a wide range of issues and topics.

In 1906 `in spite of the strict surveillance imposed on `Abdu’l-Bahá, His family, and all visitors’, Laura was able to take with her out of the Holy Land `copies both of the original Persian manuscript, revised by `Abdu’l-Bahá, and of its English translation’ (Giachery, `Laura Clifford Dreyfus-Barney’, Bahá’í News, July 1978, p. 5).

As she studied the answers of `Abdu’l-Bahá, Laura realized that they were so clear, so deep and so penetrating that they would be useful to anyone seeking the truth. Thus she asked His permission to publish them and this was granted in 1906.

Although `Abdu’l-Bahá’s conversations with Laura were not in any particular order, she organised the 84 talks into five categories, added a table of contents and translated them into English from the Persian transcript.

In London, a hundred years ago exactly - in 1908 - this collection of talks given by `Abdu’l-Bahá at Laura Clifford Barney’s prompting was published as a book `unique’ in the `entire field’ of `religious history’ (Universal House of Justice, Messages, p. 281) - Some Answered Questions - a feat that earned Laura `immortal fame’ (ibid.)

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Not so `Abdu’l-Bahá. `Abdu’l-Bahá was not young, nor did He have time on His hands. His life was threatened during the whole of the time that Laura stayed in His home and He was busy overseeing the building of the Shrine of the Báb, dealing with hostile government officials, looking after the Bahá’í community and ministering to the health and welfare needs of the people of `Akká. `I have given to you my tired moments,’ `Abdu’l-Bahá told Laura, as He rose from the table after answering one of her questions (SAQ, p. xvii).

Many of the answers given by `Abdu’l-Bahá were fairly short but so impressive and insightful that Laura arranged to have them recorded. Thus another visitor to `Akká, Ethel Rosenberg, the first English woman to become a Bahá’í, wrote down Laura’s questions and recorded `Abdu’l-Bahá’s replies as translated into English by Dr Yúnis Khán Afrúkhtih, a secretary of `Abdu’l-Bahá [side note here: Yúnis Khán is the great-great grandfather of my grandchildren (!) through their father], while Mírzá Múnir, another secretary, recorded the answers as spoken by `Abdu’l-Bahá in Persian.

Laura explained that the answers to her questions `were written down . . . not with a view to publication, but simply that I might have them for future study’. The English notes of Ethel Rosenberg were transcribed and translated in Persian and `Abdu’l-Bahá read them, `sometimes changing a word or a line with His reed pen’ (SAQ, p. xv). The result was a large collection of talks giving a unique insight into the teachings of Bahá’u'lláh on a wide range of issues and topics.

In 1906 `in spite of the strict surveillance imposed on `Abdu’l-Bahá, His family, and all visitors’, Laura was able to take with her out of the Holy Land `copies both of the original Persian manuscript, revised by `Abdu’l-Bahá, and of its English translation’ (Giachery, `Laura Clifford Dreyfus-Barney’, Bahá’í News, July 1978, p. 5).

As she studied the answers of `Abdu’l-Bahá, Laura realized that they were so clear, so deep and so penetrating that they would be useful to anyone seeking the truth. Thus she asked His permission to publish them and this was granted in 1906.

Although `Abdu’l-Bahá’s conversations with Laura were not in any particular order, she organised the 84 talks into five categories, added a table of contents and translated them into English from the Persian transcript.

A hundred years ago exactly - in 1908 - this collection of talks given by `Abdu’l-Bahá at Laura Clifford Barney’s prompting was published as a book `unique’ in the `entire field’ of `religious history’ - Some Answered Questions - a feat that earned Laura `immortal fame’ (Universal House of Justice, Messages, p. 281)

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Had you wished to travel to a cutting edge event in the summer of 1848 - 160 years ago - where would you have gone? To California to cash in on the beginning of the gold rush? Perhaps to one of the European countries that were swept up in political revolution. Unlikely choices would have been a tea party in Waterloo, New York and a conference in a Iranian garden. You would have probably dismissed both as ordinary and unpromising as harbingers of world change.

Only five people attended the tea party and they were all women. The garden event had rather more people - 81 - but very few women, by all accounts. The people attending one event probably knew absolutely nothing about the other event. But they shared a common problem: curtains.

The conversation at the tea party, held on 13 July, centred on the situation of women in the relatively new republic of the United States. One guest was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a 32 year old housewife, mother and activist who had spent her honeymoon at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. There, she and the six other women delegates were denied their seats and prevented from speaking. They had to sit behind a curtain in the visitors’ gallery and listen while the London credentials committee explained that they were `constitutionally unfit for public and business meetings’. And things were no better in the United States, Stanton complained to the others at the tea party. Even in this new country dedicated to equality women played no significant role in governance or decision-making.

Her friends agreed. The could have continued to grumble about things. Instead, they decided to hold a convention. And why wait? They could do everything in a week. One of the party was Lucretia Mott, a Quaker in the American abolitionist movement, who was also annoyed by the lack of women’s rights. She could be the featured speaker. So they put an ad in the local paper and planned the conference.

On the other side of the world, another young woman, Fatimih Baraghani, was having trouble with curtains too. Born into a Shi`i Muslim family, her father, a cleric, was enlightened enough to educate her but she had to sit silently behind a curtain to listen to the discussions of the other - male - students. Her father often regretted that she was not a boy, so that she could have succeeded him. As was the custom, she was married at the age of 11 to her cousin and they had three children.

Fatimih’s life changed, however, when she read the works of a scholar who was teaching that a new revealer of God’s word was about to appear who would revolutionize the fortunes of humanity with a revival of the great spiritual teachings and new social principles. Secretly she began to correspond with him and, very soon, she was converted. She journeyed to meet him only to discover that he had died only a few days before her arrival. But he had left instructions for his students to search for the new teacher from God and Fatimih fasted and spent her nights in prayer vigils to be guided to Him. One night she dreamt of a young man wearing a black cloak and a green turban who was standing in the air, reciting verses and praying. She memorized one of the verses and wrote it down in her notebook when she awoke.

Some time later, Fatimih read a section of a longer text written by the Bab, who claimed to be the promised new teacher from God, and she came upon the verse which she had noted down from the dream. Recognizing it immediately, she accepted that the message of the Bab was true. She threw her lot in with His followers and began vigorously - though from behind a curtain - to teach the new religion to all who would listen.

Back in the United States, Cady Stanton and her friends drafted a `Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions’ based on the American Declaration of Independence. The Declaration stated that, `all men and women are created equal’ and `are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights’ which belonged to women and men. Among the injustices perpetrated against women they enumerated were that women were denied access to higher education and to the professions, that they did not receive equal pay for equal work and that married women had no property rights and even no right of custody of their own children. A key injustice was that women were denied the right to vote. Basically, Cady Stanton and her friends wanted to get rid of the curtains that prevented women from advancing and using their talents and potential.

In Iran, just a few weeks before this, in June of 1848, the followers of the Bab faced major challenges. The Bab was imprisoned by the government for spreading His teachings; the first to believe in Him was also in difficulty. Fatimih’s fiery talks from behind the curtain had aroused the fury of the clerical leadership and she was persecuted by them. She had even been accused of killing an uncle who had opposed her new religion and she had spent much time under arrest. The Bab sent out a message for his followers to gather at a conference to move things forward: it was time to establish the religion of the Bab independently of its Islamic roots, to proclaim its new laws and to embed its new principles.

Baha’u'llah, at this time the foremost among the followers of the Bab, made the arrangements. He rented three gardens - one for Himself, one for Quddus (a prominent Babi leader) and one for Fatimih. On or about 26 June 1848, 78 other Babis pitched their tents in the field between the three gardens and the 22-day conference of Badasht began.

Although the meeting in New York was being organised by women for women, it was a step too far to have a woman chair it, so Lucretia’s husband, James Mott, agreed to do so. On the first day of the two-day Seneca Falls Convention, 19 July 1848, some 260 women and 40 men turned up. On the second day, after hours of speeches and debate, 68 women and 32 men signed the final draft of the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. The women’s movement was born.

In Iran, a very different convention was unfolding. Every evening, Baha’u'llah, Quddus and Fatimih met to discuss plans. Every day one of the Islamic laws was abrogated; every day a new law was promulgated. Every person received a new name from Baha’u'llah. Fatimih’s name was confirmed as Tahirih, the Pure One, a name originally given to her by the Bab.

One day Baha’u'llah becamel ill. Quddús went to Baha’u'llah’s tent and expected Tahirih to come as well. But Tahirih sent message saying that owing to Baha’u'llah’s illness, Quddús should visit her garden instead. Quddus firmly invited her to Baha’u'llah’s garden.

So Tahirih left her tent and went towards the tent of Baha’u'llah, shouting aloud: `The Trumpet is sounding! The great Trump is blown! The universal Advent is now proclaimed!’ However, it was not her words that drew attention - it was her face. More daring than Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, who had given over the chairmanship of their meeting to a man, Tahirih had throw off the veil she had worn all her life when in the presence of men to proclaim in a dramatic and unforgettable way that in this, the new age, women were the equal of men.

This act is akin to a woman standing on the steps of St Paul’s cathedral in London in the nude and proclaiming that Christ has returned. As you can imagine, the believers gathered in the tent were panic struck. One cut his own throat with a razor, while some fled, and each one asked himself, `How can the Law be abrogated? How is it that this woman stands here without her veil?’

Tahirih delivered a fiery speech to the remaining Babis: `I am the Word which the Qa’im is to utter, the Word which shall put to flight the chiefs and nobles of the earth.’ Baha’u'llah ordered the Surah of the Inevitable be read: `When the Day that must come shall have come suddenly . . . Day that shall abase! Day that shall exalt! . . .’ A new religious dispensation - and a new movement of women - was born.

Have we yet achieved what these women set out to do 160 years ago today? The British government this week announced that it will take even firmer measures to give equal pay to women - they currently receive 87 per cent of what a man earns for doing the same job. The legislation was enacted 50 years ago.

And let’s see, in Tahirih’s homeland, what is the status of women? Are they sitting behind a curtain, are they still veiled?

Almost 160 years to the day after the beginning of the Conference of Badasht, on 20 June 2008, the international governing council of the Baha’i community, the Universal House of Justice, wrote to the Baha’is in Iran - persecuted, imprisoned, denied access to education and unable to practice their beliefs - and told them this:

Surely there are many pressing issues that preoccupy your fellow citizens as they strive to promote the prosperity and well-being of your nation. Foremost among these is, no doubt, the critical need to remove the barriers hindering the progress of women in society.

For you, the equality of men and women is not a Western construct but a universal spiritual truth about an aspect of the nature of human beings . . . It is, above all, a requirement of justice . . . As `Abdu’l-Baha explained: `The world of humanity has two wings — one is women and the other men. Not until both wings are equally developed can the bird fly. Should one wing remain weak, flight is impossible. Not until the world of women becomes equal to the world of men in the acquisition of virtues and perfections, can success and prosperity be attained as they ought to be. ‘

In this matter you are particularly qualified to be of assistance.

Tahirih, that peerless heroine of Iranian history, courageously advocated the emancipation of women in 1848, at a time when activity related to this principle was only beginning to gather momentum in parts of the world. From that time on, you have raised generation after generation of your children — both boys and girls — to value and express in every facet of their lives this
fundamental tenet of the Faith. In 1911, nearly a century ago, you founded the Tarbiyat School for Girls in Tihran, thereby making an indelible mark on society by providing to girls of all backgrounds the opportunity for education and enlightenment. For almost half a century now, Baha’i women have participated fully in all the administrative affairs of your community at the local, regional, and national level. And decades ago, you effectively eliminated illiteracy among Baha’i women under the age of forty.

Yet you are keenly aware that you cannot be content with your achievements to date and must continue your efforts to transcend those cultural practices that impede the progress of women. The goal of true equality is not easily attained; the transformation required is difficult for men and women alike. To this end, we warmly encourage you to continue to enhance your understanding of this principle and to strive to uphold it more fully in your families and in your community. You can, in addition, draw upon your experience to discuss with your friends, neighbours, and co-workers challenges and effective solutions and participate in projects that have this same worthy aim . . .

That is - curtains to curtains!

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Be thou a light to every darkness, a dispeller of every sadness, a healer for every sick person, a quencher for every thirst, a shelter for every refugee, a refuge for every captive. `Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í writings

We have just ended Refugee week here in Bedfordshire. I attended two activities: `The Asylum Monologues’ (Google it in, you will be amazed) and a showing of the film `Turtles Can Fly’.

`The Asylum Monologues’ is a dramatic reading using the words of three asylum seekers here in the UK, telling of the persecution and torture they were subjected to in their own land and the prejudice, suspicion and injustice they have had to face here. I emceed the event and it was so powerful I was overcome. Adults and children are beaten and tortured in their home countries and when the come here for asylum, they are detained, sometimes for years, in prison-like conditions, while they wait to discover whether the government here considers that they are `genuine’ and can stay or `failed’ without a legitimate reason to be here and must go home or even that is `safe’ to go back to their country. They have little or no contact with anyone apart from their lawyers and the detention centre staff. There are a few brave `befrienders’ - not nearly enough. Their lives are pointless and boring and hopeless.

`Turtles Can Fly’ is located in a real refugee camp for Kurds in the north of Iraq. Reportedly the first Iraqi film made after the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the story is a `fictionalized’ account of the life of the orphaned children living in the camp among the landmines and artillery shells. The main `actors’ were all physically damaged in some way - one had lost both arms, another a leg, and so on. The psychological and spiritual damage was even greater. Again, a very powerful and moving film.

Both the monologues and the film made me angry at the injustice of it all. What are we - thinking, prosperous, educated adults - doing? How did we let this happen? How did we make it happen? This is the 21st century!

These presentations brought to mind all the evils and injustices that we are wreaking on each in so many parts of the world - and the damage that we are even doing to the earth itself!

They also brought to mind the suffering of Bahá’u'lláh. He Himself was, of course, an exile. He did not flee injustice, persecution and prejudice but was sent away from His homeland as persona non grata, together with His family, including very young children. Before His exile, He had already been tortured and imprisoned on more than one occasion, His children vilified in the streets.

The journeys of exile - there were four - themselves were dangerous, lengthy and either freezing cold or blazingly hot. It took them three months to walk from Tehran to Baghdad - right through the dead of winter. Shoghi Effendi compared this forced journey to the migration of Muhammad, the exodus of Moses and the banishment of Abraham. You can read about them here.

In many cities to which they were exiled, but particularly when they lived in `Akká, Bahá’u'lláh and His family suffered many of the challenges of urban life that today’ refugees and asylum seekers face — poor water supply, overcrowding in the homes they were assigned, lack of sanitary conditions, the unavailability of fresh food, lack of employment, ineffective government. Bahá’u'lláh and His family were also victims of other features of poor quality urban life — prejudice, disinformation, lack of concern for others, fear. Stones were thrown at the nine-year-old `Abdu’l-Bahá by children whose hatred of the Bábís had been aroused by those who were ignorant and feared them. Bahá’u'lláh’s family and many believers were the victims of injustice, arbitrary and corrupt government and inequality. Human rights abuses against Bahá’u'lláh and His family, and hundreds of other Bahá’ís, were legion. In Iran today nothing has changed for the Bahá’ís. The human rights abuses, the harassment, the imprisonment, continue.

Like many people today, Bahá’u'lláh Himself, His family and large numbers of Bahá’ís were made homeless as a result of the persecution directed against them. Bahá’u'lláh knew what it was to have His home seized by others and then destroyed, to have all His possessions taken, to lose everything, to have nothing. His children understood poverty. `Abdu’l-Bahá recalls that after Bahá’u'lláh’s arrest in Tehran the family was so destitute that there was no food to eat. `I was hungry’, He said, `but there was no bread to be had. My mother poured some flour into the palm of my hand and I ate that instead of bread.’

Bahá’u'lláh and His wife Navváb knew what it was to watch their children become ill and have no medicine to give them. Three of their six children died in early childhood, their last-born dying in Baghdad at the age of two.

Bahá’u'lláh was the victim of an arbitrary, corrupt and unjust judicial system. He knew what prison was like, what conditions in prisons do to people. His family, too, suffered imprisonment, and watched their friends die from ill treatment.

There were no social services in Bahá’u'lláh’s time, no welfare system, nowhere to go for material aid. Indeed, the Bahá’ís were, in many ways, the providers of the social services themselves. Both Bahá’u'lláh and Navváb were concerned for the homeless and the poor and were known as the `Father of the Poor’ and the `Mother of Consolation’ well before Bahá’u'lláh’s vision in the Síyáh-Chál told Him that He was God’s promised teacher for this age. `Abdu’l-Bahá was virtually a one man social welfare system in `Akká. Not only did He feed the poor, clean people’s houses, give them clothes (distributing coats each year) and take care of the ill by paying for doctors and medicine, He stockpiled food against times of famine and even took people into His own house to protect them and give them shelter. He was well-known for His alms-giving to the urban poor of `Akká, His distribution of money to the homeless of New York and other cities of America, His concern for those to whom the provision of health and welfare in the cities did not reach. Bahíyyih Khánum, Bahá’u'lláh’s daughter, Shoghi Effendi tells us, `freely dispersed’ food, money, medicine and clothing to the `famished men, women and children’ who besieged the house of `Abdu’l-Bahá in Haifa during the first world war seeking assistance. `All these,’ he says, `had their share in comforting the disconsolate, in restoring sight to the blind, in sheltering the orphan, in healing the sick, and in succouring the homeless and the wanderer’.

If Bahá’u'lláh and His family could, as exiles themselves, serve with love the very people who harassed them and made their lives a misery, how much more could those of us who are `free’ do for those who are seeking refuge in our countries. The ultimate resolution of these problems is, of course, that the people of the world turn towards Bahá’u'lláh and put His teachings into practice. The very purpose of Bahá’u'lláh’s own suffering was to free humanity

The Ancient Beauty hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner within this most mighty Stronghold that the whole world may attain unto true liberty. Bahá’u'lláh

While we are waiting for that ultimate freedom, perhaps we can take some small steps towards it by personally acting as Bahá’u'lláh’s family did: serving others, standing up for justice, being a `a shelter for every refugee’.

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