Colonialism and invented religions
"Iranian professionals post public apology to the Bahai'i"
What a ridiculous story. The Baha'i, like the Ahmadi's, are sects which were actively cultivated during the 19th century to further increase schisms and divisions within the Islamic communities occupied by the West, who naturally gave them great sympathy and support and continue to do so. Every now and then another story about the oppression of the Baha'i is wheeled out by American or European media just to keep the pressure up on Iran. By the way, London is one of the best places to meet an example of these "Iranian professionals", or gharbzadegi's (what a great name!). If there were any two religions which deserved to be oppressed it would be these two "faiths".
The Bahai'i headquarters are based in Haifa, occupied Palestine as a gesture of support by the Zionist state and with the encouragement of the British Empire. Incidentally their highest authority severely discourages providing any information that would encourage an Israeli to become a Baha'i. Why is that?
12 comments:
This whole notion of colonialism and such has already been refuted with historical evidence:
http://tinyurl.com/irimyths
>The Bahai'i headquarters are based in Haifa, occupied Palestine as a gesture of support by the Zionist state and with the encouragement of the British Empire.
We got there before Israel was made - therefore Zionism is irrelevant - and Baha'is actually do not accept funds from non-Baha'is, meaning we do not receive financial aid from any group other than the Baha'is themselves. If you think otherwise, I would advise you to substantiate your future statements with tangible evidence as opposed to the same old tenuous accusations.
>Incidentally their highest authority severely discourages providing any information that would encourage an Israeli to become a Baha'i. Why is that?
Because the Israeli government themselves asked the Baha'i community there to adhere to this law, and one of the laws of the Baha'i Faith is that we must obey the governments of the land in which they live. In short: the Israeli government made an order and we are complying with that order. Very simple.
Hello Adib,
Thank you for stopping by and also for your well intentioned comments. The wikipedia article was quite interesting and it does show that a considerable effort has been made into disproving these accusations. After careful consideration I decided that all I can say to you is salam aleikum and good luck with what you do. Anything further than that could inflame our conversation a lot more and bring up needless conflict. You have your faith and I have mine and I refer this all to the judgement we will face one day. What I do believe, I will say, so inevitably we will clash.
Hello Maysaloon,
Thank you for your acknowledgement, and salam aliekum and good luck to you as well. Agreeing to disagree is indeed very noble of you, and for it I have tremendous respect for you.
Just for a moment, consider the fact that (whether or not your statement holds truth) generations of Baha'is have now been raised with their faith as their personal truth. Are you advocating for their oppression despite that fact?
Hi Jillian,
The West usually tries to divide and conquer using one of three methods: religion, nationalism or humanism.
If religion were a bigger factor in their target, then they would support groups on the basis of either nationalism or humanism. In the case of the Bahai's, they use humanism. In India, they used religion to undermine nationalism, in Iraq, they use nationalism to undermine a common religion and humanism. If we are to resist this, we have to refuse whichever leg of this three-legged stool they decide to use.
Dear Maysaloon
A couple of notes regarding your latest comment - you say the West uses nationalism in Iraq to undermine religion and humanism? I am not sure I understand.
Nationalists (nationalism) and Islamists (political religion) - though not so many leftists sadly (humanists???) are currently fighting fiercely against the West's best equipped, most brutally genocidal army. Maybe in this instance the co-option of the Iraqi traditional left has been attempted as part of the strategy to assassinate the Iraqi nation.
Or maybe the fact that Iraq, as a core part of the Arab people, simply doesn't fragment into this nationalist-religious-humanist triptych too well means that it is actually impossible to subdue its people? In the Arab world, it is possible indeed frequent to be a Nationalist believer (see Palestinians who yearn against all odds to attend service on Epiphany in Bethlehem, or Gamal Abdel Nasser). Or an Islamist Nationalist.
This logic makes me think hard, Maysaloon. It seems that if the West wants to occupy us, then it will have to fragment us all into this paradigm. In other words, it's going to have to split us each in two, three, four or 10.
Love
La Mora,
Thanks for stopping by. As for your comments, yes Iraq is in fact experiencing an onslaught using nationalism as a tool to divide the country. The north of the country is now to all extents and purposes Kurdish, the result of over 40 years of Israeli and American support and incitement. In the south, religion has been used to divide the country where nationalism would have united it. Iraq is currently experiencing shock treatment in all three of these forms of assault. I apologise if the three terms appear vague and I haven't explained them fully, but I mean them mainly in the sense that Dr. Ali Shariati first introduced them within the context of the Muslim world.
You do realize that you completely avoided my question, right? You said that Baha'is were deserving of oppression...but regardless of how a faith was born (or contrived, whatever), that doesn't change the fact that generations of Baha'is have been raised in their faith and know no other. And of them, what? You just don't care?
I think, and this is universal to both arabs and the west, that no one actually 'cares' about the Bahaiis. They're too little to impose any significant political instability in Iran, but enough to be a valid challenging point in Middle-Eastern-Western debates.
The western political world does see that, and does exploit it in their arguments to further other causes in their agendas, and the Iranians 'cut off/silence/oppress' the Bahaiis, merely for them not to be used as Iraq's 'WMD'.
Jillian,
Sorry if it appeared like I was avoiding your question earlier but the answer remains a no, I don't care.
Hi TI3GIB,
Thanks for stopping by. You're absolutely right in your summary, that is precisely the state of the Bahai's and also precisely why the West and Israel find them useful. On the flipside Muslims would never accept those who had become Bahai, whether now or a hundred years ago, in their midst and never will because to do so would be seen as complete heresy. When the choice boils down to human rights or what Allah commands in the Quran and the Hadith, you won't get a prize for guessing whose will prevails.
the kurds were not invented by israel..40M people living in a region that cant seem to garner support for its independence is not our invention.. its a fact of the arab world.. that while you will pretend to cry for palestinians you will slaughter kurds and deny them their rights and as long as its muslim on muslim its all good and fine..
as for the bahais.. they are not the only minority we have in israel.. but the bahais are known for their respectful behaviour.. so beyond the political rights i think the general street in israel is fond of the bahais and their magical gardens with phenominally meticulous gardening skills..
there is a mystique about them and a fascination..
they also have gardens in acre but i have never managed to find them..
the druze live by a similar code when it comes to their relationship with local government and fact is we get along with them too.. in fact they are very well presented in israel's parliament..
not everything is built on darkness maysaloon.. lighten up..
but the Kurds are not a religoun.I find it funny that you pick them out of all your other options, and lay all that nonsense about their "opression" being a "fact of the arab world" because their "opression" largely comes from Israel's biggest ally in the region, Turkey.
Next question.
Post a Comment