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Baha'i Faith the 'unification of mankind'
Followers 'live the faith morning, noon and night'

BY SUSAN CANFORA • SPECIAL TO THE TIMES • MARCH 20, 2010

SALISBURY -- When discussing why they chose the Bah' Faith, followers mention unity, equality of the sexes and refusal to backbite and gossip.
Such affirmative behavior breeds positive energy, the faithful say, which is certainly to be cherished, but is not the only benefit.
"Every day you are holding yourself accountable for that day. We ask, 'What have we done wrong? How can I do it better?' You are in a constant state of reflection," said Hebron resident Bryan McElwain.
He and his wife, Cicely, are raising their three young sons in the Faith.
Unlike mainstream Christian religions, Jesus is not worshiped as the savior of mankind in the Bah᭡' Faith. The Holy Bible is regarded as a special book, but there are also Bah' prayer books and other volumes of importance. Jesus is honored as one of many Messengers from God.
It is Baha’u’llah Who they believe is the One promised in all previous religions. He is the next Messenger.
"Bah' accept all major Prophets of God. We see Them in the same light, just in different lamps," McElwain said. "The light is emanating from the same source. The Prophets are all perfect Manifestations. Bah᭡' is the unification of mankind."
In the Bah' Faith -- where there is no clergy, confession or communion -- followers are urged to investigate the truth, to study and reach their own conclusions, not to simply accept what the religion teaches without research.
There are nine holy days within the year. Every year, there is a 19-day annual fast, during which they eat only from sunset to sunrise, but not during the day. The fast ends today.
"The idea is to detach us from material things that rule our lives during the day," said Caroline Z, a member of the Salisbury area congregation of believers. "We think about people who have no food."
She was drawn to the religion because, "we live the faith morning, noon and night."
The Bah' calendar is divided into 19 months of 19 days each, according to the Web site www.bahai.us/. The Bah᭡' year begins March 21. Days begin and end at sunset, and the week begins on Saturday.
On the first day of every Bah' month, followers gather for a feast of prayer, fellowship and discussion.

The number nine has significance because it is the highest single digit number, McElwain said. In multiplication, numbers multiplied by nine equal nine when the digits are added. For example, four times nine equals 36 and three plus six equals nine. Two times nine equals 18 and one plus eight equals nine.
Bez Masloom, secretary of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bah's of Wicomico County, wrote in an e-mail that there is reverence for the number nine, "because it is considered by those who are interested in numbers as a sign of perfection.
"The second consideration, which is the more important one, is that it is the numerical value for the word Baha ... (it) is symbolic of the perfection of the Bah᭡' Revelation which constitutes the ninth in the line of existing religions," he wrote.
The Faith was founded by Bah'u'llh, described on the Web site www.bahai.org, as "a Persian nobleman from Tehran who, in the mid-19th century, left a life of princely comfort and security and, in the face of intense persecution and deprivation, brought to humanity a stirring new message of peace and unity."
He claimed to be "a new and independent Messenger from God." His message was unity, one God and one human race. He called for an end to prejudice, extremes of poverty and wealth and promoted universal education, harmony of science and religion, balance between nature and technology and establishment of a world federal system, the Web site states.
Believers read writings morning and evening, meditating and concentrating on them all day. Cicely McElwain said the prayers help believers know God "and live a life that connects you to God in every way."
"One of the laws," Mazloom added, "is not to backbite. That is one of the biggest ways of unity."
One recent evening at the home of a member of the local Spiritual Assembly of the Bah's of Wicomico County, there was a service of children's devotions, followed by desserts. Three families and six children, aged 17 months through 7 years, joined in. Children read, listened to or repeated prayers after an adult.
"He is God! O God, my God! Bestow upon me a pure heart, like unto a pearl," the children prayed, and "O God, my God, my Beloved, my heart's desire."
Patricia Boyd, who is a relative newcomer to the Faith since getting involved in November last year, called the religion "wonderful."
"At first I felt unworthy ... but it has had a great impact. I find I am more cognizant of my actions and how they impact other people," she said. "It teaches me a way of living now with patience and giving me the goal of service every day. It is very interesting to me how much more positive energy I have in my life."

A representative from a well known society made reference to its meetings for the purpose of a search into the reality of truth, and 'Abdu'l-Bah᭡ said "I know of your work. I think a great deal of it. I know your desire is to serve mankind, and to draw together Humanity under the banner of Oneness; but its members must beware lest it become only a discussion. Look about you. How many committees have been formed, and living for a little while, have died! Committees and Societies cannot create or give life.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 107)

Anxious wait for Hills Baha’is
08 MAR 10 @ 02:31PM BY LAURA TRIESTE

Merhdad Mumtahan, Mahshid Rasouli, Mitra Shahriari and Maliha Shahriari Zavareh are related to seven Baha’i leaders who have been held in prison in Iran since May 2008.
Their trial began early this year, with all leaders facing charges of espionage.
Hills Baha’i community external affairs officer Carmen Lalehzari said the charges were baseless.
Merhdad Mumtahan is the nephew of Baha’i leader Saied Razaie, who he visited a few months before he was captured.
“It was devastating, they’ve executed a lot of Baha’is in Iran before and Saeid’s youngest son is the same age as my son,” he said.
Mr Mumtahan fled Iran when he was 16 when he was conscripted to go to war.
“I had no chance of being educated purely because of my religious beliefs,” he said.
Sisters Mitra Shahriari and Mahshid Rasouli are maternal cousins to Baha’i leader Mahvash Sabet and Maliha Shahriari Zavareh is her paternal cousin.
Ms Sabet was arrested on the day of her daughter’s wedding.
“They just came and took her, it was very upsetting to hear,” Ms Shahriari said. Knowing this was a possibility, Ms Sabet made sure the wedding could still happen.
“She had already prepared her consent for the wedding three months prior,” Ms Shahriari Zavareh said.
Now all the Hills Baha’i community can do is wait for the next trial date to be announced.

In the Hidden Words Bah'u'llh says, "Justice is to be loved above all." Praise be to God, in this country the standard of justice has been raised; a great effort is being made to give all souls an equal and a true place. This is the desire of all noble natures; this is today the teaching for the East and for the West; therefore the East and the West will understand each other and reverence each other, and embrace like long-parted lovers who have found each other.
There is one God; mankind is one; the foundations of religion are one. Let us worship Him, and give praise for all His great Prophets and Messengers who have manifested His brightness and glory.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 20)

Iran: End Persecution of Baha’is
Dozens Detained Without Charge; Leaders Face Charges Carrying Death Penalty
February 23, 2010
(New York) – The Iranian government should immediately stop harassing and arbitrarily detaining members of the Baha’i community, Human Rights Watch said today.
The detention of 13 Baha’is on February 10 and 11 follows the arrest of 13 others in early January. The government alleges that those arrested in January helped to organize recent anti-government demonstrations but has not made public any charges against those detained in February. These arrests come during a broad government crackdown on opposition activists.
“The Iranian government seems to be using the post-election unrest as a cover for targeting the Baha’i community,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “These arrests are only the latest chapter in the government’s systematic persecution of the Baha’i.”
Unlike Iran’s Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian communities, which are accorded constitutional protection, the Iranian government does not recognize the Baha’i Faith and considers its adherents to be apostates from Shi’a Islam. Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, the Iranian government has put in effect various discriminatory policies against the Baha’is, including limiting access to education and employment.
Since October 2009, authorities have detained at least 47 Baha’is in Tehran, Mashhad, Sari, Semnan, and Yazd, according to the United Nations office of the Baha’i International Community (BIC) in Geneva. In May 2008, the government arrested seven leaders of the Baha’i community in Tehran, who have been held in detention since then. Their trial began on January 12, but has been postponed to April 10.
The Judiciary has charged the seven community leaders with a range of national-security-related offenses, including spying for the benefit of foreigners, propaganda against the system, establishing and spreading illegal organizations, undermining the image of the Islamic Republic in the international community, and spreading “corruption on earth.” Most of these charges carry the death penalty. During the more than a year and a half that the five men and two women have been held, they have been allowed only limited visits from family and lawyers.
One of those detained on February 10 was Alaeddin Khanjani. According to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters in Iran, Ministry of Intelligence (MOI) agents entered his home in Tehran at about 2:30 a.m., searched the premises, confiscated personal belongings including a computer and religious material, and took him into custody. Khanjani is the son of Jamaloddin Khanjani, one of the seven Baha’i leaders on trial in Tehran. Ministry of Intelligence agents had also arrested Alaeddin Khanjani’s adult daughter in January. Within several hours of Alaeddin Khanjani’s arrest, agents arrested seven more Baha’is, claiming they were being detained for their involvement in recent public demonstrations. On February 11, agents arrested five Baha’is in their homes in Tehran. No charges have been filed against any of the 13.
On January 3, MOI agents also raided the homes of 13 Baha’is and detained them, releasing three of them after they indicated they would not participate in further public demonstrations. In addition to the others arrested on February 10, one of those arrested on January 3 and then released was rearrested on February 10.
In a press statement on January 12, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran general prosecutor, said that the 10 Baha’is who have been held since January 3 faced charges of “organizing the unrest on Ashura <December 27> and sending photos of the unrest abroad.” In a previous statement on January 8, he claimed that authorities had found arms and ammunition in some of their homes. Dolatabadi denied that the arrests had anything to do with their Baha’i affiliation. Security forces have reportedly arrested hundreds of Iranians for their alleged involvement in the demonstrations on Ashura, a Shi’a day of mourning.
The authorities are holding those arrested on January 3 in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj and have not allowed them to contact their lawyers. According to the BIC, a few of them were allowed to contact family members after spending several weeks in prison.
The BIC also indicated that 60 Baha’is are currently in detention, with an additional 90 having been released but awaiting trial. Since 2004, 99 Baha’is have been convicted of various charges, including acting against national security, teaching against the Islamic Republic, propaganda against the regime, involvement in establishing illegal groups and organizations, and insulting the sacred institutions of Islam. These individuals are free pending appeal. Scores of others have been summoned and interrogated by security and intelligence agents without being taken into custody, according to the BIC.
The five Baha’is arrested in Tehran on February 11 are: Taraneh Ghanouni, Naghmeh Ghanouni, Shaida Yousefi, Aria Shadmehr, and Riaz Firouzmandi.
In addition to Alaeddin Khanjani, those arrested on February 10 are: Ashkan Bassari, Maria Ehsan Jafar, Bashir Ehsani, Romina Zabihiyan, Houtan Sistani, Simin Ghaffari, and Pedram Sanaei.
Those arrested on January 3 are: Mehran Rowhani, Farid Rowhani, Babak Mobasher, Leva Mobasher Khanjani, Payam Fanaian, Jinous Ghazanfari Sobhani, Artin Ghazanfari, Nikav Hoveydaei, Ebrahim Shadmehr, Zavosh Shadmehr, Negar Sabet, Mona Hoveydaei Misaghi, and Nasim Beiglari. Negar Sabet, Mona Misaghi, and Nasim Beiglari were released on January 3, but Mona Misaghi was summoned to the MOI agency’s office again on February 10 and rearrested.
The seven members of the Baha’i leadership whose trial began on January 12 are: Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm.
Background
Due to governmental restrictions on openly practicing their faith, Baha’is in Iran are unable to convene and administer a National Spiritual Assembly as in most countries where Baha’i communities exist. Instead, they have formed an informal coordinating body known as the “Friends of Iran.” The seven members facing trial consist of six leaders and the secretary of this coordinating body.
Haifa, in present-day Israel, is the final resting place of Baha’ullah – the founder of the Baha’i Faith – and the faith’s administrative headquarters since 1868, when Haifa was under Ottoman rule, Despite the fact that sites in and around Haifa were considered holy to the Baha’is well before the creation of the state of Israel, the Iranian government has repeatedly used the connection as an excuse to accuse Baha’is in Iran of spying for Israel, with which Iran has hostile relations.
During a recent review of its human rights record before the United Nations Human Rights Council, Iranian officials dismissed numerous concerns by member states regarding the government’s treatment of its Baha’i minority. Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of Iran’s UN delegation, stated on February 15 that “no Baha’i in Iran is prosecuted because he is a Baha’i,” and the government rejected recommendations put forth by other governments calling for “an end to discrimination and incitement to hatred vis--vis the Baha’i.”

Universal benefits derive from the grace of the Divine religions, for they lead their true followers to sincerity of intent, to high purpose, to purity and spotless honour, to surpassing kindness and compassion, to the keeping of their covenanted, to concern for the rights of others, to liberality, to justice in every aspect of life, to humanity and philanthropy, to valour and to unflagging efforts in the service of mankind.

Abdu’l-Baha
Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 98

Faith & Action: Power of Unity
BY JOYCE FULLER KLEIKAMP
Baha’i Community of Pinal County

One of the most disheartening and frustrating aspects of the religions of the world is that they seem to be so different from each other. What’s more, each particular religion has numerous branches and sects that can appear as different from each other as the major faiths themselves.

This is why the central theme and purpose of the Baha’i faith, to unite the human family within one universal cause, within one common faith, has sparked hope and excitement in the hearts of people everywhere.

In the past in all other religions, the followers were left to themselves once their manifestation of God was no longer walking among them. Thousands of disputes arose resulting in the fracturing and splitting of the faithful into sects, denominations and groups. The underlying cause of this disunity was often a strong desire for leadership on the part of ambitious individuals. Differences of opinion about what should be done and what should happen created problems that ultimately could not withstand the pressure. No one, no group, was authorized to act. This is now the day, the era, in which the power of unity has been preserved through the unique functioning of the covenant.

The divine design for unity has been safeguarded; Baha’u’llah protected the faith against division by writing his will and testament, in it designating his eldest son, Abdu’l-Baha, to be the sole interpreter of his teachings and Center of the Covenant. Abdu’l-Baha’s life was a gift to humanity. He was the perfect exemplar of the teachings. He lived for 77 years, shared the exiles and tribulations of his father, labored to spread the word of God throughout the east and west, and wrote thousands of tablets and letters which educated the Baha’is in the ways of unity. His writings are an important part of the writings of the Baha’i faith.

By focusing on the life and writings of Abdu’l-Baha, as the center of the covenant, in addition to the life and writings of Baha’u’llah himself, the worldwide Baha’i community remained united in their efforts to create a new civilization based upon the understanding that we are one human family and that there is a blueprint for building unity in our communities. We understand that justice is a key that overlooking the faults of others and developing virtues is vital.

Furthering the protection of the faith, Abdu’l-Baha wrote in his will that his eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, would serve as guardian of the faith, to be the authorized interpreter of the teachings and to guide the expansion of the faith in every part of the world. For 36 years, he clarified and educated humanity. And now, as clearly delineated, the affairs of the Baha’i world are handled by elected councils of people, at the local, national and international levels. The supreme institution guiding the faith is called the Universal House of Justice.

Throughout these years of divine revelation, divine interpretation and authorized action, the Baha’is continue to build unity in the world community; this unity is based upon the foundation of the laws and commandments given to us by the manifestation of God for this day, the promised one of all ages.

Next week, we’ll explore some of the most important and exciting of these laws and guidelines. These are the building blocks of our unity, the lamps of guidance for our footsteps. This series of articles is taken directly from the presentation entitled “The Baha’i Faith”.

Visit the Web site for the local Baha’i chapter at www.bahai.org.


I have come from distant lands to visit the meetings and assemblies of this country (US). In every meeting I find people gathered loving each other; therefore I am greatly pleased. The bond of union is evidenced in this assembly today where the power of God has brought together in faith, agreement and concord those who are engaged in furthering the development of the human world. It is my hope that all mankind may become similarly united in the bond and agreement of love. Unity is the expression of the loving power of God and reflects the reality of divinity. It is resplendent in this day through the bestowals of light upon humanity.

Abdu'l-Baha
Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 274