The Bloody Sword of Mulla Husayn Let's not forget that Babis attempted to assassinate the Shah, but a single thrust in an armed rebellion in the middle o...
Bahais joining the Iranian civil society and joining other civil activists working to defend their fellow countrymen’s rights is a very significant development...
In an interview with International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Hessam Mishaghi, spokesperson for the Right to Education Committee, most of whose members are in prison right now, spoke of barriers for education for Bahais and students who are active in civil and political activities at universities. He explained in this interview that contrary to Mohammad Javad Larijani’s statements in Geneva in which he said no Bahai has been arrested or deprived from education or social rights on grounds of his Bahai faith, he and one of his friends have discovered a letter in which Ministry of Science’s Security Department and Ministry of Information have deprived them of education on the same grounds. Hessam Mishaghi also talked about the arrests of his friends and colleagues and how what Larijani said in Geneva were lies.
The Campaign’s interview with this civil and student activist who has been deprived from education follows:
I find myself sitting at my sister-in-law's desk this morning, looking over the rolling hills of Wisconsin. My family and I are visiting my brother and his family, and this has, of course, gotten me thinking.
On the multiple-hour drive here, I read the line "Be a home for the stranger", from the longer piece found in Gleanings (number CXXX), that begins "Be generous in prosperity and thankful in adversity."
And, of course, it all begins with our own heart.
In this piece, Baha'u'llah exhorts us to "be a home", not just to provide one. As a guest here, for a few days, the difference caught my attention. Oh, this is not to imply that my brother isn't either, for he and his family are exemplary hosts, but just that there is a distinction between the two, and I had never noticed it before now.
We’re four days into the Bah’ Fast and its full impact is beginning to bite. (Sorry — just couldn’t resist it.) A good friend of mine in Leominster put me onto a piece written by Laurie Lee on appetite which contains some interesting thoughts about part of the power of fasting, at least for us in the affluent world.
You can find the full piece on this link. It behoves us to remember as well though that there are millions in the world at the moment who are not fasting but starving. For them these words will make little sense at all. Only compassionate and effective action constitute an appropriate response. None the less Laurie Lee’s words are a timely reminder to us that affluence has a price and also that such good fortune is not ours by right.
One of the major pleasures in life is appetite, and one of our major duties should be to protect it.
Fasting is an act of homage to the majesty of appetite. So I think we should arrange to give up our pleasures regularly—our food, our friends, our lovers—in order to preserve their intensity, and the moment of coming back to them. For this is the moment that renews and refreshes both oneself and the thing one loves. Sailors and travelers enjoyed this once, and so did hunters, I suppose. Part of the weariness of modern life may be that we live too much on top of each other, and are entertained and fed too regularly. Once we were separated by hunger both from our food and families, and then we learned to value both. The men went off hunting, and the dogs went with them; the women and children waved goodbye. The cave was empty of men for days on end; nobody ate, or knew what to do. The women crouched by the fire, the wet smoke in their eyes; the children wailed; everybody was hungry. Then one night there were shouts and the barking of dogs from the hills, and the men came back loaded with meat. This was the great reunion, and everybody gorged themselves silly, and appetite came into its own; the long-awaited meal became a feast to remember and an almost sacred celebration of life. Now we go off to the office and come home in the evenings to cheap chicken and frozen peas. Very nice, but too much of it, too easy and regular, served up without effort or wanting. We eat, we are lucky, our faces are shining with fat, but we don’t know the pleasure of being hungry any more.
Last year’s charade election in Iran laid bare the stark reality in that country for not only the rest of the world but also for many of the usually apathetic Iranians inside Iran. The friction between the oppressed and their oppressors reached a climax with street protests and violent clashes.
My only bone to pick is with the Baha’i administration that actively pursues a policy to keep as many Baha’is inside Iran as possible.
After a few weeks of shocking dismay, the powerful control apparatus put in place by the Basiji, the Revolutionary Guards and Ahmadinejad clamped down and eventually snuffed out the protests. But don’t mistake the tranquility on Tehran streets as a sign that everything is back to normal. The turmoil in Iran is simmering under the surface, ready to boil over at a moment’s notice. This is far from over.
Amidst this historic upheaval, the acclaimed film director Bahman Ghobadi made his latest work: “No One Knows About Persian Cats”. Like most Iranian cinema it defies classification being more a documentary than film. It chronicles the lives of a group of young Iranian musicians struggling against the stiffing oppression that prevents them from even playing the music they like.
The Banu Qurayza were a Jewish tribe in Medina in the time of Muhammad. In 627, when the Meccans brought a great army against Muhammad in Medina, he resolved to meet them in the city itself, which meant that the treaty of Medina would oblige all of the clans in the city – including the Jewish ones – to join in its defence. During their brief and unsuccessful siege (known as the Battle of the Trench), the Meccans apparently negotiated with the Jewish clan of Qurayza within the city, hoping that they would switch sides, and did persuade them to renounce their alliance under the treaty of Medina. Once the Meccans had withdrawn, Muhammad attacked the Qurayza. After a siege of three weeks they had to surrender. Their fate was decided by an arbiter from among the Aus (the Arabic patrons of the Banu Qurayza), who decreed that the men of the tribe should be executed, their property confiscated, and the women and children sold into slavery. Muhammad carried out the executions himself, of some 600 or 700 adult men, although some reports say that Ali and al-Zubayr performed the executions.
This sad event had an unlikely echo centuries later.
One interesting thing about the massacre of the Qurayza is that Muhammad is not in charge of events. It is not his ruling that the men should be killed, and if it had been up to him, Medina would have made peace with the attackers. But the rulers of Medina rejected the treaty he had negotiated. To me this adds up to Muhammad as the Sheriff of Medina, not its ruler. Medina had outsourced its security function to Muhammad and his refugee followers. The execution of those condemned to death was part of his job description. (The historical sources and details are on this blog in ‘Muhammad at Medina‘)
Funny business: despite parts in many major films, Omid Djalili still finds performing stand-up comedy the most enjoyable
The comedian and actor has a new film in which he plays a Muslim taxi-driver who discovers he's a Jew. But, generally, he says...
Omid Djalili is contemplating taking his clothes off. Well, not right now, as we're sitting in a busy restaurant near his house in leafy East Sheen and that would be extreme behaviour, even by his standards. No, he's talking about stand-up – which despite his successful film career is still his greatest love – and how there are times when he struggles to curb his baser impulses.
"I could easily streak on stage," he says, his eyes twinkling. "I would love to do a whole act naked. I could insult people, I could swear, I could do the most filthy material you've ever heard. But luckily I have a conscience that says: 'Would that really be good for my mother to see?'"
Written by Alison Marshall, Meditations on Baha'u'llah
Saturday, 06 March 2010
The way I look at issues like women on the House these days is in terms of the names and attributes of God, for these are the building blocks of reality.
Yesterday, I was reminded about the issue of women on the House. I hadn't thought about it for years, so I pondered the issue briefly again to register what my heart would say. First, I noticed that the issue did not raise my hackles, as it used to. I found I couldn't bring myself to care, in that I have moved on and other things interest me more now. In part, this is because my Baha'i experience is located outside of the Baha'i community these days and is therefore not concerned with the community's administrative problems.
I also found myself saying: it's inevitable that women will be on the House one day. The reason for this is the following. I have just finished reading the book "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel (which is brilliant, by the way; a must-read, in my view). It is set in the time of Henry VIII - the transition time between his first and second wives. I didn't realise how much change went on in England during that time. A key issue was church and state, played out as whether the king of England was subject to the Pope, for if he was, then the Pope's religious law trumped any civil law made by Parliament. It's a fascinating subject in itself, but my point here is that reading the book threw me back into the prevailing attitudes of the time. I saw how issues that are settled by society now, back then, were being debated with great passion. And people were dying for them; for example, whether the people could have access to the gospels in English. Back then, if you had an English translation of the gospel, you would be burned. (Interesting, eh, the parallels: today the Baha'i administration tries to control scripture, too).
My goal is to do one simple post a day describing my reflections and experiences during this special time
I'm about to enjoy some red grapes as I contemplate how fast the Baha'i Fast is approaching. It kind of sneaked up on me. 2010 is going to be a year of experiments on Baha'i Thought and I'd like to try one for the Fast. My goal is to do one simple post a day describing my reflections and experiences during this special time. I want to encourage Baha'i Thought readers who are also fasting to share their thoughts and stories in the comment section each day if they wish. I wanted to kick things off with inviting readers to share anything they do to prepare for the Fast or if there are particular things you like to do during this time. Do you have a particular prayer you love, or something you like to eat for breakfast? Is there a particular way you like to break the Fast? What's the strangest thing you ever broke your Fast with (mine would be Pringles!). The comment section is wide open. Bring it on people.
Fair speech and truthfulness, by reason of their lofty rank and position, are regarded as a sun shining above the horizon of knowledge.
~ Bah?u?llh
Still More Shameless Advertising
Baha'i Library Online—The thinking person's Bahais Online—a multi-user collaborative publishing system ...and a library!
Desert Rose Bah' Institute— a community-based Center of Learning, guided by Bah’ principles, that creates an atmosphere of spirituality which inspires artistic and educational development.
We have 2 guests and no members online We have 323 members registered.
Shameless Ads
Support Bahais Online
A small donation will help pay the hosting fees for this site. This tiny form allows you to pay using PayPal and credit card. (Or you can contact me for other payment options) - Steve
Statistics
Members: 342 News: 2424 Web Links: 86 Visitors: 4503838
Syndicate
Time Zone Clock
More shameless ads
Talisman - every talisman and amulets is unique and is written to address a specific problem.
My old hosting company, LunarPages, turned out to be a disaster. So far, HostGator has been wonderful and I'm ready to recommend its services.
Bahais joining the Iranian civil society and joining other civil activists working to defend their fellow countrymen’s rights is a very significant development... 
A small donation will help pay the hosting fees for this site. This tiny form allows you to pay using PayPal and credit card. (Or you can 
