#the persecution of baha'is in iran

[swiftsnowmane]

"This report, Outsiders: Multifaceted Violence Against Baháʼís in the Islamic Republic of Iran, jointly produced by Abdorahhman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran and Eleos Justice (Faculty of Law, Monash University), examines the persecution of Bahá’ís through two frameworks: Johan Galtung’s theory of violence — direct, structural, and cultural — and international criminal law. Drawing on diverse sources, including over 50 interviews with Baháʼís, the report provides unprecedented insight into the mechanisms of persecution and calls for international awareness and accountability.

The Bahá’í faith, established in 1844, has faced continuous and intense persecution in Iran, marked by violence, discrimination, and a systematic denial of rights. Initially, Bahá’ís experienced mob violence and various forms of state-sanctioned oppression, which worsened after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The new regime viewed the Bahá’í community as a theological and ideological threat, reinforcing exclusionary policies under the doctrine of Velayat-e Faqih, which left no room for religious diversity.

State violence against Bahá’ís has ranged from executions, enforced disappearances, torture, and physical abuse, to the destruction of property, including homes, businesses, and cemeteries. Hundreds of Bahá’í properties have been confiscated, leaving families without recourse and with lingering trauma.

Apart from physical violence, Bahá’ís in Iran suffer structural and cultural discrimination. The constitution excludes Bahá’ís from recognized religious minorities, denying them basic rights to education, employment, and property. A 1991 memorandum further formalized policies aimed at limiting Bahá’í socioeconomic progress. Recently, Bahá’ís have been denied marriage registration, complicating legal matters around family and inheritance.

Culturally, the State perpetuates anti-Bahá’í sentiment through propaganda and misinformation, portraying Bahá’ís as foreign agents or morally corrupt. This narrative permeates educational materials, fostering discrimination among students and teachers. However, there is growing resistance among Iranians, with some expressing support for the Bahá’í community.

Under international law, these systematic actions against Bahá’ís constitute crimes against humanity, including murder and persecution, though they fall short of the legal definition of genocide. Despite Iran’s non-participation in the Rome Statute, the principle of universal jurisdiction allows for potential prosecution by other nations, marking an ongoing international concern for the Bahá’ís’ plight in Iran.

Read the full report in PDF format."

[sethshead]

Members of the Baha'i Faith have long been persecuted in Iran, due to the Islamic prohibition on the emergence of new prophets. Accordingly Baha'is in the religion's homeland were murdered for apostasy. When they moved to Ottoman Syria, they were imprisoned in Ako, where the Baháʼu'lláh died.

The Baha'i experienced a reprieve during the secular nationalistic Pahlavi Era, but have again been subject to repression and execution under the Islamic Republic. In the 1980s, among his very many political victims, the "Butcher of Tehran", the late, lamented (by the UN, at any rate) President Ebrahim Raisi, also turned against innocent Baha'is. They were killed for crimes against Islam. Does this Iranian government sound like a place to turn for those who espouse the cause of human rights?

Yet our activists, academics, and NGO administrators have made a hero of Raisi and his hangman's noose.

[theupfish]

The Baha'i faith teaches unity of all the world's religions

Founded in 19th Century Iran, the Baha'i faith built off of the previous three Abrahamic religions. The Baha'i believe that all of the world's major religions have been revealed by the same God.

From Wikipedia's article on the Baha'i faith:

According to Baháʼí teachings, religion is revealed in an orderly and progressive way by a single God through Manifestations of God, who are the founders of major world religions throughout human history; Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad are cited as the most recent of these Manifestations of God before the Báb and Baháʼu'lláh.

Despite their religion's inclusive and progressive nature, the Baha'i people have faced ongoing persecution, particularly in their home nation under the Islamic Republic of Iran. But despite attempts to suppress it, the Baha'i faith is one of the fastest growing religions in the world, as well as one of the most widespread around the globe.

The Baha'i people have an elected leadership for their entire religion, comparable to the Vatican for Catholicism. It's called the Universal House of Justice, and is located in Haifa, Israel; also in Haifa are the Shrine of the Báb, and its famous gardens, also known as the Hanging Gardens of Haifa.

The main symbol of the Baha'i faith is the nine-point star. Others include the five-point star, the Greatest Name, and the Ringstone Symbol. (Link)

[amagi2000]

Scholar Drops Truth Bomb on Ignorant, Protesting Students

Dr. Denis MacEoin was a British academic, scholar and writer with a focus on Persian, Arabic, and Islamic studies. He was an expert in Middle Eastern affairs and was a senior editor of the Middle East Quarterly.

The following is an open letter of rebuttal that he wrote to The Edinburgh Student's Association who voted to boycott Israel based on a claim that  Israel is under an apartheid regime.

TO: The Committee Edinburgh University Student Association.

May I be permitted to say a few words to members of the EUSA? I am an Edinburgh graduate (MA 1975) who studied Persian, Arabic and Islamic History in Buccleuch Place under William Montgomery Watt and Laurence Elwell Sutton, two of Britain 's great Middle East experts in their day. I later went on to do a PhD at Cambridge and to teach Arabic and Islamic Studies at Newcastle University. Naturally, I am the author of several books and hundreds of articles in this field. I say all that to show that I am well informed in Middle Eastern affairs and that, for that reason, I am shocked and disheartened by the EUSA motion and vote.

I am shocked for a simple reason: there is not and has never been a system of apartheid in Israel.

That is not my opinion, that is fact that can be tested against reality by any Edinburgh student, should he or she choose to visit Israel to see for themselves. Let me spell this out, since I have the impression that those members of EUSA who voted for this motion are absolutely clueless in matters concerning Israel, and that they are, in all likelihood, the victims of extremely biased propaganda coming from the anti-Israel lobby.

Being anti-Israel is not in itself objectionable. But I'm not talking about ordinary criticism of Israel. I'm speaking of a hatred that permits itself no boundaries in the lies and myths it pours out. Thus, Israel is repeatedly referred to as a "Nazi" state. In what sense is this true, even as a metaphor? Where are the Israeli concentration camps? The einzatsgruppen? The SS? The Nuremberg Laws? The Final Solution? None of these things nor anything remotely resembling them exists in Israel, precisely because the Jews, more than anyone on earth, understand what Nazism stood for.

It is claimed that there has been an Israeli Holocaust in Gaza (or elsewhere). Where? When? No honest historian would treat that claim with anything but the contempt it deserves. But calling Jews Nazis and saying they have committed a Holocaust is as basic a way to subvert historical fact as anything I can think of. 

Likewise apartheid. For apartheid to exist, there would have to be a situation that closely resembled how things were in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Unfortunately for those who believe this, a weekend in any part of Israel would be enough to show how ridiculous the claim is.

That a body of university students actually fell for this and voted on it is a sad comment on the state of modern education. The most obvious focus for apartheid would be the country's 20% Arab population. Under Israeli law, Arab Israelis have exactly the same rights as Jews or anyone else; Muslims have the same rights as Jews or Christians; Baha'is, severely persecuted in Iran, flourish in Israel, where they have their world center; Ahmadi Muslims, severely persecuted in Pakistan and elsewhere, are kept safe by Israel; the holy places of all religions are protected under a specific Israeli law. Arabs form 20% of the university population (an exact echo of their percentage in the general population).

In Iran, the Bahai's (the largest religious minority) are forbidden to study in any university or to run their own universities: why aren't your members boycotting Iran ? Arabs in Israel can go anywhere they want, unlike blacks in apartheid South Africa . They use public transport, they eat in restaurants, they go to swimming pools, they use libraries, they go to cinemas alongside Jews - something no blacks were able to do in South Africa.

Israeli hospitals not only treat Jews and Arabs, they also treat Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank.  On the same wards, in the same operating theatres.

In Israel , women have the same rights as men: there is no gender apartheid.

Gay men and women face no restrictions, and Palestinian gays often escape into Israel, knowing they may be killed at home.

It seems bizarre to me that LGBT groups call for a boycott of Israel and say nothing about countries like Iran , where gay men are hanged or stoned to death. That illustrates a mindset that beggars belief.

Intelligent students thinking it's better to be silent about regimes that kill gay people, but good to condemn the only country in the Middle East that rescues and protects gay people. Is that supposed to be a sick joke?

University is supposed to be about learning to use your brain, to think rationally, to examine evidence, to reach conclusions based on solid evidence, to compare sources, to weigh up one view against one or more others. If the best Edinburgh can now produce are students who have no idea how to do any of these things, then the future is bleak.

I do not object to well-documented criticism of Israel. I do object when supposedly intelligent people single the Jewish state out above states that are horrific in their treatment of their populations. We are going through the biggest upheaval in the Middle East since the 7th and 8th centuries, and it's clear that Arabs and Iranians are rebelling against terrifying regimes that fight back by killing their own citizens.

Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, do not rebel (though they are free to protest). Yet Edinburgh students mount no demonstrations and call for no boycotts against Libya, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iran. They prefer to make false accusations against one of the world's freest countries, the only country in the Middle East that has taken in Darfur refugees, the only country in the Middle East that gives refuge to gay men and women, the only country in the Middle East that protects the Bahai's.... Need I go on?

The imbalance is perceptible, and it sheds no credit on anyone who voted for this boycott. I ask you to show some common sense. Get information from the Israeli embassy. Ask for some speakers. Listen to more than one side.

Do not make your minds up until you have given a fair hearing to both parties. You have a duty to your students, and that is to protect them from one-sided argument.

They are not at university to be propagandized. And they are certainly not there to be tricked into anti-Semitism by punishing one country among all the countries of the world, which happens to be the only Jewish state. If there had been a single Jewish state in the 1930's (which, sadly, there was not), don't you think Adolf Hitler would have decided to boycott it?

Your generation has a duty to ensure that the perennial racism of anti-Semitism never sets down roots among you. Today, however, there are clear signs that it has done so and is putting down more. You have a chance to avert a very great evil, simply by using reason and a sense of fair play. Please tell me that this makes sense. I have given you some of the evidence.

It's up to you to find out more.

Yours sincerely,

Denis MacEoin

[no-passaran]

Many members of the Baha'i religious minority have been arrested across Iran in recent weeks amid unabated nationwide protests. Some were detained at their homes while others were rounded up with other protesters in the streets. Like many of the arrested demonstrators, these Baha’is have been locked up behind bars without specific charges and haven’t been allowed to meet with their families. (...)

43 Years of Harassment and Persecution

Members of the Baha’i community are among the most persecuted groups in Iran. From the very first days following the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, they have been violently harassed by the Islamic Republic and its lackeys. The properties and the homes of many Baha’is were confiscated, their cemeteries in all Iranian cities were seized and destroyed, and Baha’i villagers were driven out of their ancestral lands.

The homes and the livestock of many of these villagers were set on fire, and some of the elderly villagers were killed by setting them ablaze. Baha’is were expelled from all government positions, academics were kicked out of educational institutions, and students were banned from higher education.

During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Baha’is served in the military, just like their fellow Iranians. A large number of them were killed, sustained serious injuries or became prisoners of war, but the Islamic Republic has not recognized any of them as “martyr,” POW or war wounded soldier, and their names were removed from the lists of the Martyrs Foundation.

For more than a decade, Baha’is have been banned from leaving Iran and none of them have been given a passport. Over the past 43 years, more than 200 followers of the Baha’i faith have been murdered and executed by the Islamic Republic. Thousands of them have served prison time because of their faith.

During the ongoing protests, security agents of the Islamic Republic have killed a number of children, but for the Baha’is that’s not something new. Forty years ago, on June 18, 1983, Mona Mahmoudnejad, a 16-year-old Baha’i girl, was executed by hanging in the southern city of Shiraz just for refusing to convert to Islam. Babak Talebi and Payman Sobhani are among other Baha’i children who have been murdered in Iran.

Persecuting the Baha’is as a Mean to Silence Protests

Misleading public opinion is one of the methods that the Islamic Republic has consistently used whenever it has been challenged by protests. In the early days of the current wave of demonstrations, the Iranian government once again resorted to this tactic to mislead public opinion and sow divisions among protesters.

In a statement on September 30, the Intelligence Ministry claimed that Baha’is “have had an extensive presence on the scenes of unrest and riots,” using this fallacious excuse to arrest three Baha’i leaders and two members of their communication team.

To back its claim, the Intelligence Ministry created fake Twitter accounts and sent messages bearing the logo of the London-based, Persian-language Iran International TV channel. In these posts, Baha’is were supposedly calling on people to take to the streets on October 14 and 15. (...)

[alitheia]

Iran. Many Iranian women opposed the Shah's autocratic rule and his use of a cruel secret police, SAVAK, which tortured many women who joined underground anti-government guerrilla groups. In 1978, militant Muslim supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini incited massive demonstrations against the Shah. To placate the religious leaders of the revolutionary movement, he banned abortion.

But in 1979, the militants drove him out. Khomeini, who had been propagandizing from exile in Paris, returned to Iran in triumph. In March 1979, 100,00 women gathered at the University of Tehran to celebrate the overthrow of the Shah and the Ayatollah’s victory. But almost at once, Khomeini suspended reformed family laws, barred women from becoming judges, issued his first order on the veil, passed a series of laws to segregate schools, buses, beaches, and other public areas, and established theocratic rule.

Disregarding women's support, the Ayatollah abolished all laws granting women rights and showed no reluctance to kill women who upheld them. He established a ‘morals police’—made up, in a rare exception, of women, called the Zeinab Sisters—to exercise surveillance on women's dress and behavior and harass or arrest them. One of his first acts was to prosecute the first woman member of the Iranian cabinet, Farrokhrou Parsa. Tried by judges in hoods, allowed no defense attorney and no appeal, she was in fact declared guilty before the trial began. Parsa was charged, writes Mahnaz Afhjami, with ‘expansion of prostitution, corruption on earth, and warring against God.’ Her actual offenses were to direct schoolgirls not to veil and to establish a commission to revise textbooks to present a nonsexist image of women. In December 1979, Khomeini had Parsa executed; she was wrapped in a sack and machine-gunned.

Women protested the new rules in massive marches in Teheran and other Iranian cities; men beat, stoned, and even stabbed them as they marched. Men purged women from the public realm, then passed laws severely restricting them from taking jobs and making it almost impossible for them to talk to or deal with men at work. In 1981, Khomeini had fifty schoolgirls shot and thousands of girls and women arrested for ‘counterrevolutionary’ or ‘anti-Islamic’ activity. None were given trials, and reports indicate that 20,000 women, including pregnant women, old women, and young girls, were executed. In 1982, Khomeini set the legal minimum age for execution at ten years (or puberty) for girls and sixteen for boys, banned women from most sports eventsand launched a new campaign of arrest, executing 15,000 people. That same year, he intensified government persecution of religious minorities, especially Jews and Baha'is. In 1983, he made veiling compulsory for women, and had ten women hanged for refusing to convert from Baha'i to Islam: three were teenagers; others included the first Iranian woman physicist, a concert pianist, the former personnel director for Iran Television, and nurse. He recruited children to clear minefields during Iran's war against Iraq; hundreds of thousands were killed.

In 1989, a woman interviewed on a television program said she would rather model herself on a contemporary woman than on Muhammad's daughter, the self-sacrificing Fatima who has been held up as a model for women for thirteen hundred years. Ayatollah Khomeini ordered those responsible for the program arrested and executed. When his advisers assured him the producers had made an innocent mistake, he granted pardons—but by then Iranian women had surely gotten the message.

“The War Against Women,” Marilyn French

[spokanefavs]

Pete Haug further explains the religious persecution in Iran of Baha'is.

[michaelgabrill]

Upcoming: H.Res. 744 Condemning the Government of Iran's state-sponsored persecution of its Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as amended

H.Res. 744 Condemning the Government of Iran's state-sponsored persecution of its Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as amended, sponsored by , is scheduled for a vote by the House of Representatives on the week of November 28th, 2022. https://ift.tt/elATYPd

[swiftsnowmane]

Iran deploys a sinister tactic against the Baha'i religious minority—fabricating legal cases and relentless summonses, creating a web of oppression.

Recent revelations expose the extent of government hostility, leaving Baha'is in constant uncertainty. 

IranWire's interviews with members of the community highlight the fear of arrests and hindrance in burying their dead, showcasing an ongoing assault on their rights. 

Baha'is interviewed by IranWire express that they cannot plan for their lives and careers due to the uncertainty surrounding who will be summoned or arrested tomorrow, whose homes will be searched, or whose businesses will be shut down.

A significant and increasing number of Baha'is are awaiting the implementation of sentences, even as many have been released on bail and are awaiting trial.

Roha Emani and Firozeh Sultan Mohammadi, two Baha'is women living in Kerman, were recently summoned to the Kerman Prosecutor's Office and faced charges and interrogation over allegations of "Baha'i propaganda" and "educational activities against Sharia."

Emani and Mohammadi were previously detained for 17 days in November last year and subsequently released on bail.

Korosh Rezvani, a Baha'is citizen of Bandar Abbas, was summoned to the Intelligence Department of the city and was later released following interrogation.

Rezvani is the son of Ataullah Rezvani, who was kidnapped and fatally shot in Bandar Abbas in August 2013.

Ataullah was a prominent Baha'i figure in Bandar Abbas who had received numerous threats from the intelligence department and the city's Friday prayer leader office before his assassination.

Ten years have passed since Ataullah's death, yet the case remains unsolved, with no identified perpetrator.

Furthermore, several Baha'i citizens in Hamadan were summoned and interrogated over the past few weeks.

The Baha'i International Community (BIC) has also reported the summoning and interrogation of 16 Baha'is from Isfahan.

The systematic persecution of the community reveals a chilling reality wherein the fundamental rights and freedoms of Baha'is are undermined.

"Baha'is are not only deprived of citizenship rights in Iran during their lifetime, but they are also deprived of human rights after death, and the deceased Baha'is and their families are harassed," a Baha'i citizen told IranWire.

The particular incident refers to the misconduct of Behesht-e Zahra cemetery authorities in burying the deceased in the Baha'i cemetery in Tehran.

Over the past year, Behesht-e Zahra has refused to release the bodies of Baha'is and has only allowed Baha'is to bury their dead in their own cemetery of Khavaran for a hefty fee.

As this fee collection lacked legal grounds and was enforced under pressure from the Ministry of Intelligence, many families of the deceased have refused to comply.

The most recent reported incident was the authorities refusing to release the body of Esfandiar Ghazanfari to his family for burial in the Baha'i cemetery in Tehran, with the deceased's body remaining in the morgue for over 20 days.

Finally, Artin Ghazanfari, the son of the deceased, revealed on his Instagram page that his father's body was taken and buried in Khavaran cemetery on March 1.

Authorities have allegedly buried the bodies of Baha'is in mass grave sites of political prisoners executed in the 1980s. This was reportedly done without informing families or performing religious ceremonies over the past year.

[former-leftist-jew]

... First off, I'm an autistic, aesexual-biromantic Jewish Democrat and former hardcore leftie liberal whose friends were all some degree of leftist Queer/PoC/non-Christian all my life.

Secondly: ... My Baha'i Persian friend, whose mother and uncle fled religious persecution in Iran, sent me the above?

I'm sorry, but do you not know how violent and oppressive the Iranian regime can be? (Especially to women, like when the "morality police" killed Mahsa Amini and sparked a feminist revolution?)

Or how they got to power in the first place? (Which I learned about from my IRL Persian friends whom I met because their families fled that regime?)

Or how many violent terror groups the Islamic regime of Iran helped spread to carnage across the Middle East in the last few decades alone? (Which I know because my Muslim friends at work and college told me?)

Like the Houthis terror party, partly because they're both Shia Muslims who wanted to stick it to the largely Sunni Saudi Arabia? (See Sunni vs Shia Islam.)

Which prompted Saudi Arabia to intervene "for peace," killing hundreds of thousands of civilians, starved millions, and caused the worst cholera outbreak ever recorded due to subsequent unsanitary conditions).

Only for Houthis to come out of the woodwork to curse Jews and attack Israel, even though it's nowhere near Yemen, did them no harm, and had nothing to do with Saudi Arabia air-striking and starving hundreds of thousands of Yemeni civilians to death.

That's not to say Islam is all bad, but that doesn't mean it's all good either. If you have time, I'd highly recommend watching ex-Muslim Youtubers who talk about their experiences growing up and/or becoming disillusioned with Islam (Mimzy Vidz, Athiest Republic. Apostate Prophet. Sultan Harris, Give Light, to name a few).

If you don't look at anything else, I think this is the most fair and succinct look at Islam, based on what I've heard, read, and learned.

Again, Islam might not be evil, but it's not perfect either.

Just as every religion and ideology has flaws that can be exploited by bad actors who wish others harm (read: Christian homophobes who get a lot of mileage out of one "thou shalt not lie with a man as one lies with a woman" line in the ENTIRE 20k+ page bible), sadly there are some texts, traditions, and beliefs in Islam that lend themselves to create violent religious extremism and intolerance.

Like Quran Chapter 9 Verse 29:

Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.

First off, the concept of jizyah is so hilarious to me. "Pay us protection money 'willingly,' or we'll kill you." "..."

Which is what this guy is alluding to: In his mind, Muslims have a sacred duty to send religious armies to fight all non-Muslims and then give the conquered three "good choices": 1) Convert to Islam, 2) Pay a poll tax and live as second-class citizens, 3) Death.

(Here's a video about Sharia Law from a non-white news source, btw.)

And that's exactly what Hamas believes and why they're waging this war. How do I know? BECAUSE THEY PUT IT IN THEIR FUCKING CHARTER.

HAMAS CHARTER 1988. Here are some passages of note:

Article 7: The Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah's promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).

Yes, this is a real Islamic hadith that many real Muslims believe, and that Hamas wants to act on. (The kicker? Most Jews have never even heard of the gharqad tree!!)

Article 11: "The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf...This is the law governing the land of Palestine in the Islamic Sharia and the same goes for any land the Moslems have conquered by force, because during the times of (Islamic) conquests, the Moslems consecrated these lands to Moslem generations till the Day of Judgement."

Like Nabeel Qureshi said above, Islam does have a long history of violent religious conquests. In his words, after the prophet's death, Islam was able to conquer 1/3 of the known world within 150 years. (Here's a map and timeline.)

The kicker? Hamas is PROUD of their Islamic ancestors' violent religious conquests, and BRAGS that they conquered the region around Palestine by force. (bolded by me)

Article 11 Cont: It happened like this: When the leaders of the Islamic armies conquered Syria and Iraq, they sent to the Caliph of the Moslems, Umar bin-el-Khatab, asking for his advice concerning the conquered land - whether they should divide it among the soldiers, or leave it for its owners, or what? After consultations and discussions... it was decided that the land should be left with its owners who could benefit by its fruit. As for the real ownership of the land and the land itself, it should be consecrated for Moslem generations till Judgement Day.

In other words: "Our ancestors conquered this land fair and square! And they called 'dibs!' for eternity! So no one else can ever own this land! Only Muslims can rule over or own this land till the end of time!"

It's like Christian homophobes refusing to acknowledge gay marriage because, "It goes against my religion! >:(" "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!" "The bible defines marriage as is between a man and a woman!"

When Hamas say they find Israel's very existence to be illegal and illegitimate, they don't mean by ACTUAL international laws, but because it doesn't jive with their Islamic beliefs and their interpretation of Sharia Law.

And what does their religion say they should do to people who try to take the land they conquered by force?

Article 15: The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.

Again, Hamas says with their words that they see Jews as "enemies" that "usurp" their Allah-given right to own and rule over all peoples and lands on earth, so the penalty of filthy JEWS (non-Muslims) owning once Muslim-owned land MUST be answered with a violent religiously war and slaughter. (And yes, jihad does mean violent religious struggle.)

And if you think, "Well, Israel deserves it for not respecting their religious views and taking their land" (just like how gays violate Christians' religious views by seeking a legal marriage license...) this next passage from Hamas' very charter, which includes a sacred hadith, outright says that they won't stop with Israel: The West is next.

Article 22: The imperialistic forces in the Capitalist West and Communist East, support the enemy with all their might, in money and in men. These forces take turns in doing that. The day Islam appears, the forces of infidelity would unite to challenge it, for the infidels are of one nation. "O true believers, contract not an intimate friendship with any besides yourselves: they will not fail to corrupt you. They wish for that which may cause you to perish: their hatred hath already appeared from out of their mouths; but what their breasts conceal is yet more inveterate. We have already shown you signs of their ill will towards you, if ye understand." (The Family of Imran - verse 118).

In other words: "Don't trust any non-Muslims, because they all secretly hate you, look down on you, and wish you harm. In fact, ALL non-Muslims are secretly in cahoots with each other, plotting against you and other innocent Muslims. Don't trust them, lean on US to protect you from the evil, bad, scheming infadels."

I hope you plan to convert to Islam, because Hamas and their Muslim followers see you as an enemy of Islam almost as much as they see me.

THIS IS WHAT HAMAS PUT IN THEIR VERY FOUNDING CHARTER.

And that's not to say "All Muslims" believe this claptrap: Lebanese-American author Brigitte Gabriel said it best: "OF COURSE not all of them are radicals, [but] the peaceful majority are irrelevant."

"There are 1.[8] billion Muslims in the world today. OF COURSE not all of them are radicals. The majority of them are peaceful people... So why should we worry about the radicals, 15-25%? Because it is the radicals that kill. Because it is the radicals that behead and massacre. When you look throughout history... Most GERMANS were peaceful people, yet the Nazis drove the agenda. And as a result, 60 million people died: Almost 14 million in concentration camps, 6 million were Jews. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. When you look at Russia, most Russians were peaceful as well, yet the Russians were able to kill over 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant... When you look at Japan, prior to WWII, most Japanese were peaceful as well. Yet Japan was able to butcher its way across most of southeast Asia, killing 12 million people, mostly killed with bayonets and shovels. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. On Sept 11th in the United States, we had 2.3 million Arab Muslims living in the United States. It took 19 hijackers--19 radicals--to bring America down to its knees, destroy the World Trade Center, attack the Pentagon, and kill almost 3,000 Americans that day. The peaceful majority were irrelevant."

But enough of them DO believe, DO want to act on it, and enough of the "peaceful majority" put up with it enough that it IS a problem.

And the Palestinian "peaceful" majority? No, most of them support Hamas, the Oct 7 atrocities, and support the continued slaughter of Jews.

I know I won't change your mind because it's already made up, but I want the record to show that I know more about Islam than you think I do.

I want the record to show that when I talk about Islamic extremists and scholars wanting kill or subjugate all non-Muslims, I'm not just regurgitating white conservative Fox News talking points: I'm taking actual Islamic believers at their word.

Hamas has stated their goal: To kill all the Jews (including me), and force everyone else (including you) to submit to Islamic rule and live by their version of Sharia Law.

"When people tell you who they are, believe them the first time" doesn't just apply to cishet white dudes. It also applies to Islamic extremists.

"It doesn't matter 'who started it'. Violence is NEVER THE ANSWER and it's ALWAYS WRONG to hit someone, even if they hit you first--even if you hit back in self-defense."

"Murder is ALWAYS WRONG, regardless of the circumstance. Even if they're actively trying to kill you and the ONLY WAY to save your own life (or the life of a loved one) is to kill them first in self-defense."

"If you hit/kill someone trying to hit/kill you, you're JUST AS BAD as the guy who's trying to hit/kill you if you do it back."

It's funny how leftist twitter and tumblr is filled with young people who know how wildly stupid and unfair this mentality is... until it's applied to jews.

The same kids who say "punching bullies and fascists is a moral imperative" because appealing to their kindness and humanity doesn't work--because violence is the only language they speak, and the only response they respect--and no one is morally obligated to endure bullying or cruelty or death just to win some empty moral victory...

Turn around and tell Jews, "It doesn't matter who started this war. Killing/bombing is ALWAYS WRONG, no matter the circumstances. If you do it to them, you're JUST AS BAD as they are, and thus you deserve whatever violence they inflict on you..."

Fucking bite me.

At least pearl-clutching 70s-90's white Christian house moms condemned violence across the board--they didn't like it in movies, TV shows, video games, or baseball games any more than they liked it on the playground.

But youngass leftists who've cheered and celebrated violence in nearly every aspect of their life, fiction, history, and news--from "punching nazis," to BLM riots, to "throw a brick through a ceo's house" to "burn it all down!" and whatever passing trend I've forgotten...

NOW SUDDENLY think, "Killing is always wrong, regardless of the circumstances. Hitting/killing back is just as bad as hitting/killing first. Self-defense is no excuse. It's better to sit back and let yourself and your loved ones be killed rather than hit/kill back in self-defense."

Fucking bite me.

[tamlins-stories-and-poems]

Adding to a series of eerily familiar events, Bahá'ís in Yemen are still being persecuted for their Faith. We need your help, please, for the love of all things good in the world, condemn these actions. Save my friends. Don't let them be arrested for no reason.

[ayearinfaith]

𝗔 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵, 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟳𝟵: 𝗕𝗮𝗵𝗮́ʼ𝗶́ Baháʼí is a religion which developed primarily out of Shia Islam in what is now Iran in the late 19th century. Taxonomically, it is an Abrahamic faith, a sister of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, though it holds itself to be part of a grander worldwide tradition of faiths. The word “Baháʼí” became the title of the religion after its primary founder, Baháʼu'lláh, and means “glory” in Arabic. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮́𝗯 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗮𝗵𝗮́ʼ𝘂'𝗹𝗹𝗮́𝗵 In 1844 a 25-year-old merchant would declare himself a messenger of the singular Abrahamic God and forerunner of the Messiah (a savior figure present to some extent in all Abrahamic faiths). He took the name “Báb”, Arabic for “gate”, as a reference to one of the titles traditionally given to the deputies of the Messiah in Shia Islam. Over the next 6 years the Báb spread his message and accrued a following estimated to be around 100,000 or so across modern-day Iran and Iraq. The Islamic authorities did not take kindly to the rise of what they saw as a heretical faith and, after years of persecution and exile, executed the Báb in 1850. Official records state that his body was left to be eaten by wild animals, though the Baháʼí claim that his remains were secretly smuggled out and now reside at the shrine of the Báb, a Baháʼí pilgrimage site in Haifa, Israel. This did not stop the religious movement, and thirteen years later, in 1863, Baháʼu'lláh made the claim that he was the figure foretold by the Báb. Baháʼu'lláh was a known figure in the religion and had already been influential in developing the doctrine as something distinct from Islam. His claim came with some controversy, though he was not the only person to make it after the Báb’s death. The Báb had given his incomplete writings to Subh-i-Azal, Baháʼu'lláh’s younger half-brother, so that he could complete them. This act was seen by many as a declaration that leadership of the religion fell to Subh-i-Azal. Baháʼu'lláh claimed that, as the foretold manifestation of God, he superseded that claim for leadership. This lead to an internal schism, causing the followers of Baháʼu'lláh to adopt the term “Baháʼí” for themselves, as distinct from other Bábís. Baháʼu'lláh convinced the majority of Baháʼí to his cause, and would further develop core Baháʼí concepts to their, more or less, modern understandings. Baháʼu'lláh passed leadership of the faith to his son, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, who would, in turn, pass it to his eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi. Shoghi Effendi is largely responsible for the increased globalization of the religion, translating its texts and building movements beyond Greater Iran and adjacent lands. After him, leadership remained within the Universal House of Justice, an organization of elected officials already founded by Baháʼu'lláh which acts as the source of Baháʼí canon and a center for global Baháʼí organization to this day. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻 The core of Baháʼí and ultimate cause of its split with Islam is the concept of the progressive revelation. As a core religious concept, I should note that there is depth to this which I cannot convey in an article this brief, so the following is a severe simplification. The idea is twofold: the first part is that God has not given his truth to the world only once, or even only a few times, but many times over the course of millennia. The second is that each one of these revelations was given in a manner relevant to the people it was given to. Thus, Baháʼí believe that Jesus was a true messenger of God, as was Muhammad, Zoroaster, the Buddha, and others. The difference in their doctrines is that Jesus was given the revelation of God as was needed for first millennia Mediterranean peoples, Buddha the version appropriate for 5th century BCE peoples of Asia, and so on. Each doctrine is the absolute truth of God and, in the eyes of the Baháʼí, contain mostly similar messages. The distinctions between religions are due to the needs and understanding of distinct cultures across space and time. Each revelation builds upon the last and come every 1,000 years, with Baháʼí being the most recent. With this knowledge, Baháʼí see their faith and its beliefs as being very directly relevant and designed around the modern world we live in today, which contrasts to many other faiths who view their principles as eternally relevant. The unity of humanity is a core principle of Baháʼí, which is very specifically anti-racist and anti-colonialist, though in a purely social way as Baháʼí are discouraged from direct engagement in local politics. Other modern religious ideals include the push for worldwide compulsory education, the equality of the sexes, the elimination of wealth inequality, and the use of auxiliary languages for international communication (Baháʼu'lláh himself praised Esperanto). Image Credit: Baha'i Temple in Wilmette, Illinois, taken by Michael Donahue in 2018.

[secular-jew]

An important letter (fact, not opinion) written by Dr. Denis MacEoin, a non-Jewish Scottish professor, senior editor of the Middle East Quarterly, and expert in Middle Eastern affairs: 

TO: The Committee Edinburgh University Student Association.

May I be permitted to say a few words to members of the EUSA? I am an Edinburgh graduate (MA 1975) who studied Persian, Arabic and Islamic History in Buccleuch Place under William Montgomery Watt and Laurence Elwell Sutton, two of Britain 's great Middle East experts in their day. I later went on to do a PhD at Cambridge and to teach Arabic and Islamic Studies at Newcastle University . Naturally, I am the author of several books and hundreds of articles in this field. I say all that to show that I am well informed in Middle Eastern affairs and that, for that reason, I am shocked and disheartened by the EUSAmotion and vote.

I am shocked for a simple reason: there is not and has never been a system of apartheid in Israel . That is not my opinion, that is fact that can be tested against reality by any Edinburgh student, should he or she choose to visit Israel to see for themselves. Let me spell this out, since I have the impression that those members of EUSA who voted for this motion are absolutely clueless in matters concerning Israel, and that they are, in all likelihood, the victims of extremely biased propaganda coming from the anti-Israel lobby.

Being anti-Israel is not in itself objectionable. But I'm not talking about ordinary criticism of Israel. I'm speaking of a hatred that permits itself no boundaries in the lies and myths it pours out. Thus, Israel is repeatedly referred to as a "Nazi" state. In what sense is this true, even as a metaphor? Where are the Israeli concentration camps? The einzatsgruppen? The SS? The Nuremberg Laws? The Final Solution? None of these things nor anything remotely resembling them exists in Israel, precisely because the Jews, more than anyone on earth, understand what Nazism stood for.

It is claimed that there has been an Israeli Holocaust in Gaza (or elsewhere). Where? When? No honest historian would treat that claim with anything but the contempt it deserves. But calling Jews Nazis and saying they have committed a Holocaust is as basic a way to subvert historical fact as anything I can think of. Likewise apartheid. For apartheid to exist, there would have to be a situation that closely resembled how things were in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Unfortunately for those who believe this, a weekend in any part of Israel would be enough to show how ridiculous the claim is.

That a body of university students actually fell for this and voted on it is a sad comment on the state of modern education. The most obvious focus for apartheid would be the country's 20% Arab population. Under Israeli law, Arab Israelis have exactly the same rights as Jews or anyone else; Muslims have the same rights as Jews or Christians; Baha'is, severely persecuted in Iran, flourish in Israel, where they have their world center; Ahmadi Muslims, severely persecuted in Pakistan and elsewhere, are kept safe by Israel; the holy places of all religions are protected under a specific Israeli law. Arabs form 20% of the university population (an exact echo of their percentage in the general population).

In Iran, the Bahai's (the largest religious minority) are forbidden to study in any university or to run their own universities: why aren't your members boycotting Iran? Arabs in Israel can go anywhere they want, unlike blacks in apartheid South Africa. They use public transport, they eat in restaurants, they go to swimming pools, they use libraries, they go to cinemas alongside Jews - something no blacks were able to do in South Africa.

Israeli hospitals not only treat Jews and Arabs, they also treat Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank. On the same wards, in the same operating theatres. In Israel , women have the same rights as men: there is no gender apartheid. Gay men and women face no restrictions, and Palestinian gays often escape into Israel, knowing they may be killed at home.

It seems bizarre to me that LGBT groups call for a boycott of Israel and say nothing about countries like Iran, where gay men are hanged or stoned to death. That illustrates a mindset that beggars belief.

Intelligent students thinking it's better to be silent about regimes that kill gay people, but good to condemn the only country in the Middle East that rescues and protects gay people. Is that supposed to be a sick joke?

University is supposed to be about learning to use your brain, to think rationally, to examine evidence, to reach conclusions based on solid evidence, to compare sources, to weigh up one view against one or more others. If the best Edinburgh can now produce are students who have no idea how to do any of these things, then the future is bleak.

I do not object to well-documented criticism of Israel. I do object when supposedly intelligent people single the Jewish state out above states that are horrific in their treatment of their populations. We are going through the biggest upheaval in the Middle East since the 7th and 8th centuries, and it's clear that Arabs and Iranians are rebelling against terrifying regimes that fight back by killing their own citizens.

Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, do not rebel (though they are free to protest). Yet Edinburgh students mount no demonstrations and call for no boycotts against Libya, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iran. They prefer to make false accusations against one of the world's freest countries, the only country in the Middle East that has taken in Darfur refugees, the only country in the Middle East that gives refuge to gay men and women, the only country in the Middle East that protects the Bahai's... Need I go on?

The imbalance is perceptible, and it sheds no credit on anyone who voted for this boycott. I ask you to show some common sense. Get information from the Israeli embassy. Ask for some speakers. Listen to more than one side. Do not make your minds up until you have given a fair hearing to both parties. You have a duty to your students, and that is to protect them from one-sided argument. They are not at university to be propagandized. And they are certainly not there to be tricked into anti-Semitism by punishing one country among all the countries of the world, which happens to be the only Jewish state. If there had been a single Jewish state in the 1930's (which, sadly, there was not), don't you think Adolf Hitler would have decided to boycott it?

Your generation has a duty to ensure that the perennial racism of anti-Semitism never sets down roots among you. Today, however, there are clear signs that it has done so and is putting down more. You have a chance to avert a very great evil, simply by using reason and a sense of fair play. Please tell me that this makes sense. I have given you some of the evidence. It's up to you to find out more.

Yours sincerely, Denis MacEoin

[keyvanstories]

My Mom Loves to Visit Our Garden. Nature Lifts her spirit. My mom will be 100 years old the 1st of January 2022. My husband Arsalan has been my best and foremost support in caring for her, specially in recent months when I myself have not been feeling well. This video is Arsalan and my birthday gift to her for her 100th year birthday. My mom was born in the city of Sanandaj in the province of Kordestan Iran in january 1922. Her mother and father were the first in their Jewish family to investigate, recognize and embrace the Baha'i Faith; the New Revelation from God and the fulfillment of the prophecy's of the Holy Scriptures of the past. Their family faced severe persecution by their extended Jewish family and endured much hardship for years. My mom is the oldest child out the 6th children. She served as a Baha'i pioneer for 7 years in Venezuela after leaving Iran as a result of Islamic Revolution in 1979. She learned to speak Spanish in Venezuela and loves to speak  Spanish every chance she gets.She loves to pray every day for all her loved ones. She enjoys reading Baha'i history, watching Baha'i history videos, coloring in her coloring book, watering the plants in the garden, visiting with her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and friends any chance she gets. She takes great joy from the fact that all her children are devoted Baha'is and serve humanity in all corners of the globe.Happy 100th birthday Maman Hamideh