Major Modern Issues

Three major issues that have developed over the course of the twentieth century require some attention in any discussion of modern Baha’i history. The first is the situation of the Baha’is in Iran, particularly after the Islamic revolution of 1979. The second is recasting of “Lesser Peace” prophecies and thirdly the shift in the formal balance of power between elected and appointed arms of Baha’i administration.

Iran & the Baha'is

Ever since the birth of the Babi movement in 1844, the various ruling and religious authorities in Iran have had a difficult relationship with the Babis and Baha’is in their midst. Both Babis and Baha’is after them have experienced periodic persecution and been viewed as radicals, traitors and heretics. In the time of the Bab this depiction may have been based on some element of truth as early Babis did wage a jihad of sorts to overthrow the Qajar government of the day. However with Baha’ Allah redesigning the movement into a politically quietist and peaceful religion, Baha’is have specifically disavowed interest in formulating dissent against any government. Baha’is are forbidden to participate in party politics, and are instead urged to support their countries’ governments.

In the Pahlavi Iran of the twentieth century, Baha’is experienced some freedom to conduct their activities; establish schools; work in private enterprise and hold posts in the public service. However they were periodically persecuted as the fortunes of the Pahlavi regime waned and the influence of the Shi‘i clergy increased.84 The 1979 Islamic revolution made life extremely difficult, to say the least, for the Baha’i minority in Iran. The faith is not recognised as an official (and therefore protected) religion and there has been a systematic attempt to eliminate the Baha’i presence in Iran.85 Many Baha’is responded by fleeing and settling elsewhere and the author has personally heard some rather harrowing first-hand accounts of the Baha’i exodus from Iran.86 Others decided to stay in Iran and bear the persecution as “martyrs” for their faith.

While Shoghi Effendi, and after him the Universal House of Justice, had earlier encouraged Iranian Baha’is to “pioneer”,87 it was the 1979 Islamic revolution that forced the mass exodus of Iranian Baha’is. Local Baha’i communities around the world faced a challenge in helping the Iranian refugees adapt and there is some evidence that having large numbers of Iranian refugees within a single given community has caused tension and conflict for local Baha’is.88

Baha’is are not permitted to deny their faith which makes leaving the country through any official route practically impossible. Baha’is who deny their allegiance in order to flee have their administrative rights removed if they request admittance to Baha’i communities elsewhere.89 Recently some Iranian Baha’is have begun visiting and returning to Iran, although this is strongly discouraged by Baha’i authorities who view the current situation in Iran as still dangerous for Baha’is and because it impacts on the claims of refugee status for other Baha’is.

Next > Major Modern Issues: Lesser Peace

References

84Smith, “Iran”, A Concise Encyclopedia of the Bahá’í Faith 204-209.

85See Golpaygani, Mohammad, “To the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Khamenei, and the President of Iran, Hahsemi Rafsanjani”, 25 Feb. 1991, A Translation of the 1991 Iranian Government document on “the Bahá’í question”, 20 Dec. 2002, <http://www.bahai.org/article-1-8-3-20.html>.

86For information about Baha’i emigration pre-1979 see Moman, Moojan, “The Baha’i Community of Iran: Patterns of Exile and Problems of Communication”, Iranian Refugees and Exiles since Khomeini, ed. Asghar Fathi (Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers, 1991) 21-36, 20 Dec. 2002, <http://www.northill.demon.co.uk/relstud/Iran-patterns.htm>. For information about Baha’i persecution and exile post-1979 see The Bahá’ís in Iran: Ongoing Persecution, 20 Dec. 2002, <http://www.us.bahai.org/extaffairs/iran/Hist_bkgd.html>, Amnesty International, Iran: Official secrecy hides continuing repression, 20 Dec. 2002, <http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aipub/1995/MDE/130295.MDE.txt> and Human Rights Watch, Religious Minorities, 20 Dec. 2002, <http://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/iran/Iran-05.htm>.

87Become a Baha’i missionary by moving to a place where the Baha’i faith is unknown or unfamiliar, in order to convert locals and establish a local Baha’i community.

88An example of this is tension caused over the use of a dominant language at Baha’i meetings. Shoghi Effendi specified the use of local languages for Baha’i meetings, however where there is a large majority of Iranians within a community, Farsi is either adopted and used as the dominant language with token use of the local language resulting in the alienation of the minority of local Baha’is who feel that Shoghi Effendi’s instructions are effectively being ignored, or if the local language dominates in a largely expatriate Iranian community, the Iranians feel left out and isolated due to being unable to understand and use the local language. The UHJ has addressed the conflict over use of a dominant language. For instance see Department of the Secretariat, “To the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Australia”, 14 Mar. 1995, Baha’i Canada, Feb./Mar. 1996, vol. 8, no. 6., 21 Dec. 2002, <http://bahai-library.org/uhj/persian.html>.

89Department of the Secretariat, “To the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States”, 3 Jul. 1985, Department of the Secretariat, “To the National Spiritual Assemblies of Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States”, 8 Jul. 1985 and National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, “To Local Spiritual Assemblies”, 18 Sept. 1985, 20 Dec. 2002, <http://bahai-library.org/uhj/iran.emmigrants.html>.

Next > Major Modern Issues: Lesser Peace