QUESTIONS FOR THE LEADERS OF THE HAIFAN-BAHA’I MOVEMENT THAT IRANIANS & NON-IRANANS HAVE:
There are a lot of articles that basically say, Islam is ‘kaka-poo-poo’ … fair enough. This blog is not about that. Let’s assume for the sake of this blog that Islam is ‘kaka-poo-poo,’ so we can get that out of the way without getting side-tracked with irrelevancies and onto some questions about the Haifan-Baha’i movement.
I would like to ask the leaders of the Haifan-Baiha’is (a/k/a The Universal House of Justice or UHJ) these questions, and of course, commentators are welcome to present their theories, but with the understanding that it is the leaders that bear the responsibility for answering these questions.
QUESTIONS:
1. Does the Haifan-Baha’i Leadership (a/k/a ‘UHJ’), which customarily fails to make itself open to questions, understand that failure to make itself publicly available* to individuals with questions renders its organization suspect in the minds of many Non-Muslim and Muslim people?
(* NOTE: When I say failure to make itself available to public questions, I mean for example in a town-hall format or by opening its websites and forums up to the public without the strict censorship used there; I certainly do not mean canned-VOA or canned-BBC interviews or docu-dramas. Even the Pope, Rabbis, and Muslim clerics have frequent round-table discussions open to the public where people ask questions – they debate back-&-forth on video and in-person frequently, which often provides Iranian.com with some interesting material; See, for example, Muslim cleric holds 2 hour long open question and answer period in front of 10,000 people.)
2. Given that there are hundreds-of-millions of Muslims in Iran and in other regional countries, do you understand that when their Muslim co-religionists in Palestine are slaughtered and face racism and abuse, the fact that the Haifan-Baha’i Leadership deliberately stays silent about those abuses and instructs its followers to say nothing (even though it actively participates in numerous campaigns about ‘the plight of the Baha’is‘) leads Muslims and Non-Muslims alike to view the Haifan-Baha’i organization with suspicion and contempt, particularly in light of the fact that Bahai leaders own hundreds of millions of dollars worth of property in historic Palestine (Israel) and benefit from certain Israeli government tax incentives?
3. Iranians are well-versed in the schemes of British-Colonialism. During the early days of the founding of the Baha’i movement, the Colonial-British government was LITERALLY causing thousands of massacres against MILLIONS of people all over the globe in lands under British-Colonial occupation. Indians had their resources looted and their people raped (see Gandhi), the British caused famines in Bangladesh that killed millions; in Africa the British reinstated inhumane and heart-breaking slave-practices. British-Colonialism, without question, killed many millions of people more than the Holocaust. During this same era of British-Colonial rule the Baha’i Holy Man, Abdul Baha, was offered a British KBE (Knight of the British Empire) and accepted this British Medal for ‘for valuable services rendered to the British Empire.’ Does the Baha’i leadership understand that among Iranians, and many people around the world, no one believes the British-Colonial Government was engaged in ‘humanitarian’ efforts during that era (but rather rape, looting, and subjugation) and that the KBE accepted by Abdul Baha is tantamount to accepting a ‘good leadership’ medal from Ghenghis Khan or Adolf Hitler?
4. Is the Haifan-Baha’i Leadership willing to admit that the problems it is facing in Iran today did not start with the present government of Iran, but that for approximately 160 years under both secular and religious governments in Iran, the Bahai’s movement was rejected by both the majority of Iranian people and governments (both secular and religious)?
5. Question 5 and 6 go together: This question is not about what Baha’is claim their faith stands for today; This question is not about whether people of different races are Baha’is today. This question is not about producing some evidence showing that Abdul Baha engaged in some charitable work or commentary at some point. Side-discussion about present Baha’i practices or beliefs are simply an obfuscation of what this question is about. As noted in official Baha’i archives and publications, the Baha’i holy man, Abdu’l-Baha, said this about native Africans: “The inhabitants of a country like Africa are all as wandering savages and wild animals. They lack intelligence and knowledge; all are uncivilized; not one civilized and a wise man is to be found among them. These are the proofs of the wise men. … No matter how much the shell is educated (or polished), it can never become a radiant pearl. The black stone will not become world-illumined gem.” (Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha p.567 vv.3-4) In light of the forgoing, are Baha’is willing to publicly condemn Abdul Baha’s statements, written in his own hand and comprehensible to every native Persian speaker, as relying on improper, racist and discriminatory rhetoric?
6. If you dispute the quote from Abdul Baha in question No. 5 (above), could you provide a PHOTO-COPY of the actual text of Abdul Baha’s writing in his own handwriting and the date that photo-copy was first made available to the public so that Iranians who are well-versed in translating Persian and do not require the assistance of revisionist-intermediaries can see it for themselves? (In other words, we are not asking for a modern-day individual to engage in the art of interpretation, we are saying that Persian speakers want to see a PHOTO-COPY of the original Abdul Baha writing, and to make up their own minds, particularly given that the Bahai faith claims to favor ‘independent investigation of the truth.’ )
7. At this link, a photo-copy of an email authored by a well-known Baha’i academic by the name of Ian Kluge appears. I have cheked both the email and the code imbedded within the message, both of which confirm that the source is Ian Kluge (he uses the same e-mail that he has used in many of his official publications). Mr. Kluge also responded to an e-mail confirming his authorship. Kluge runs several Haifan-Baha’i websites and has given numerous talks to the Baha’i flock. Mr. Kluge’s message states: “I fully support a first strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities wherever they may be hidden and by whatever means are needed to destroy them. If the Iranians deny us their oil, destroy their oil facilities – if we can’t have their oil, neither will they.” (Bahai Academic, Ian Kluge.) On several occassions, I wrote to both the Universal House of Justice and to the Baha’i National Assembly in the U.S. and requested them to publicly condemn Kluge’s remarks. I received an explicit refusal, which in essence stated, ‘we will not respond to every inquiry.’ If from this day forward, the government of Iran (or any other government) views the Baha’i movement with suspicion on secular national security grounds, what excuse does the Baha’i Leadership have to offer Iranians for its willful failure to timely condemn, distance itself, or even address Kluge’s remarks?
8. Please confirm whether some of the criticisms against the Haifan-Baha’i movement have come from Zoroastrian spiritual leaders who predate the present government of Iran and share what some of those criticisms are.
9. The Baha’i Universal House of Justice (the top Haifan-Baha’i authority) is mostly composed of non-Iranians and white men, and expressely forbids women members: Can the UHJ members take 20 minutes of their time each to give a video response that reads these questions verbatim on video and answers them directly?
10. If Bahai leaders honestly care about the stories of persecution they constantly put out, why don’t they take the time to address questions (particularly by individuals who are suspicious about the activities of its leadership) to dispel the concerns that skeptics and critics have in an effort to lessen the likelihood that people will be against the Bahai faith?
Thank you.
————–
A NOTE TO INDIVIDUALS THAT ARE MEMBERS OF THE BAHA’IS OR CONTEMPLATING BECOMING A BAHAI:
Iranian Bahais are our own children, but also people have to know that there is a political game in the background; and they have to know that the overwhelming majority Bahai’s are NOT Iranians (and it papers to many that these foreigners make themselves involved in Iranian issues on behalf of Israel with an apparent conflict of interest given that the leadership receives benefits from the government of Israel).
If a child is Iranian, and wants to stay Bahai, some have said, ‘Do NOT follow the Haifa-Israeli-Bahai Movement, especially if with all their resources they cannot make a simple video and responsd to each of these questions and post them here. They should be able to read each question and answer them.’
There are other groups of Bahai for people to join, like the Reform Baha’is, which allow exactly the types of questions I have posed here. The Reform Baha’is are a group that says they are not connected to Israel and criticizes the Haifa-Israeli-Bahai Political Group and Military Propaganda Operations. The Reform Bahai’s don’t seem to have fancy buildings, but they genuinely seem like nicer and less shifty people. (Do you really need a fancy building to be closer to God? It is a question for your conscience.) I hope the information below helps those of you that are interested in alternatives to the mainstream Israeli-Baha’i organization.
5224 Aintree Road
Rochester, MI 48306-2713
Phone: (248) 652-4982
Further reading: Video, Bahá’í Brainwashing Corporation.
NOTE: I did not make the first picture in the graphic for this article, but it does seem representative of some of the questions people have.
