Mona’s teacher in public school in Shiraz gave her and her fellow students this subject to write about:
” The fruit of Islam is liberty. Whose has tasted therefrom has benefited“
Mona’ response, which she read aloud in class was this:
‘Freedom’ is the most brilliant word among the radiant words existing in the world. Man has always been and will ever be asking for liberty. Why, then, has he been deprived of liberty? Why from the beginning of man’s life has there been no freedom? Always, there have been powerful and unjust individuals who for the sake of their own interests have resorted to all kinds of oppression and tyranny�
Why don’t you let me be free to express our goals in this community; to say who I am and what I want, and to reveal my religion to others? Why don’t you give me freedom of speech so that I may write for publication or talk on radio and television about my ideas? Yes, liberty is a Divine gift, and this gift is for us also, but you don’t let us have it. Why don’t you let me speak freely as a Baha’i individual? Why don’t you want to know that a new religion has been revealed; that a new radiant star has risen? Why don’t you push aside that thick veil from your eyes?
Perhaps you don’t really think that I should have freedom. God has granted this freedom to man. You, his servant, cannot take it from me. God has given me freedom of speech. Therefore, I cry out and say, “His Holiness Baha’u’llah is the Truth!” God has given me freedom of speech. Therefore, in clear words, I write, “Baha’u’llah is the One whom God has made manifest! He is the founder of the Baha’i religion and His Book is the Mother of Books�”
Mona Mahmudnezhad
