Bah?'?s

The Bah?'? Faith is an independent religion founded in Iran in the nineteenth century by M?rz? ?usayn ?Ali N?r?, whose religious appellation was Bah?' All?h (Arabic for glory of God). The word Bah?'? signifies a follower of Bah?' All?h.

During the early 1800s there was a messianic expectation among Shi'ite Muslims that the Twelfth Imam, a descendant of the prophet Muhammed, would return to renew the religion of Islam and establish a just society. This belief was central to the teachings of the Shaykh? sect, named after Sheik Ahmad-i-Ahs?'?.

On May 22, 1844, M?rz? ?Ali Muhammad announced that he was the promised Twelfth Imam and took the name of the B?b (Arabic for gate), indicating that he was the forerunner of yet another divine messenger to appear imminently. The B?b's message spread throughout Persia (now Iran) and provoked the ire of powerful Shi'ite clergy. These clerics convinced government officials that the B?b's rapidly growing influence posed a threat to ruling authorities. In 1848 the B?b was arrested, beaten, imprisoned, and tried before the Muslim clerics of Tabriz. On July 9, 1850, the B?b was executed by a firing squad.

After the B?b's execution two followers of the B?b attempted to kill the Shah of Persia, only confirming the Shah's fears of rebellion. This act led to the mass imprisonment of thousands of the B?b's followers over the next few years. Bah?' All?h was among those imprisoned for being a B?b? even though evidence demonstrated his innocence. After several months Bah?' All?h was released and banished from Iran. He traveled to Baghdad, where he announced in 1863 that he was the messenger of God about whom the B?b had spoken. Persian officials, concerned about the flow of pilgrims and foreign dignitaries seeking an audience with Bah?' All?h, requested that Turkish officials move Bah?' All?h further away from Persian territory. Bah?' All?h was moved from Baghdad to Constantinople, then to Adrianople in an unsuccessful attempt to diminish his influence. Finally in 1868 Bah?' All?h was banished to the distant prison city of ?Akká (Acco, Acre), Palestine.

Before Bah?' All?h died on May 29, 1892, his teachings spread from Persia and the Ottoman Empire to the Caucasus, Turkistan, India, Burma, Egypt, and the Sudan. ?Abd al-Bah?, Bah?' All?h's son, assumed leadership of the Bah?'? community after his father's death and embarked on several journeys around the world, spreading the religion to regions of Africa, Europe, and America. When ?Abd al-Bah? died, his will designated his eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi Rabban?, as the new leader of the community. Shoghi Effendi continued to expand the Bah?'? community and build up the administrative structures of the Bah?'? Faith. By the time of his death in 1957, the foundation had been laid for the first international election of a governing body called the Universal House of Justice. The Universal House of Justice, located in Haifa, Israel, guides the administrative affairs of the Bah?'? community.

In just over 150 years the Bah?'? Faith has become the second-most geographically widespread religion in the world. It embraces people from all economic classes and more than two thousand ethnic, racial, and tribal groups. In 2003 there were approximately five million Bah?'?s in more than two hundred countries and territories worldwide.

A central tenet of the Bah?'? Faith is unity. Bah?'?s believe that there is only one unknowable God who has revealed himself to humanity through a series of messengers, including Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Krishna, Jesus, Muhammad, the B?b, and Bah?' All?h. Bah?'?s believe in the oneness of humanity, the unity of religious truth, the harmony of science and religion, the equality of women and men, independent investigation of truth, the elimination of all forms of prejudice, and a spiritual solution to extremes of wealth and poverty.

Persecution of the Bah?'?s in Iran

Since the founding of their religion the Bah?'?s of Iran have suffered torture, imprisonment, mob violence, and execution despite Bah?'? beliefs of obedience to government and tolerance. Some twenty thousand Bah?'?s perished in the face of opposition from Islamic religious authorities during the nineteenth century. Persecutions continued intermittently throughout the twentieth century until the Islamic revolution in 1979, when clerics seized control of the government and embarked on a systematic campaign to eradicate the Iranian Bah?'? community.

Between 1978 and 1998 the Iranian government executed more than two hundred Bah?'?s. The majority of these Bah?'?s were members of the community's democratically elected governing councils. During the 1980s hundreds of Bah?'?s were imprisoned and tens of thousands were deprived of jobs, pensions, businesses, and educational opportunities solely because of their religious beliefs.

International Responses

In response to intense international pressure in the late 1980s, including a series of country-specific United Nations (UN) resolutions, the Iranian government began to reduce the rate of executions and number of Bah?'?s held in prison. However, despite the apparent abatement of persecution in the late twentieth century, evidence revealed that the Islamic Republic of Iran continued its campaign to marginalize and eliminate the 300,000-member Bah?'? community. Bah?'?s were arrested and released without documentation to confirm their freed status. Suspended sentences were used to threaten individuals who continued to participate in Bah?'? activities. These practices were calculated to extinguish the life of the community without drawing the attention and ire of the international community.

Evidence of the government's altered tactics emerged in early 1993 with the discovery of a confidential government policy memorandum regarding the Bah?'? question. Drafted by the Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council and signed by former president Ali Khamenei, the document described the government's objective: to ensure that the "progress and development" of the Bah?'? community remain "blocked." The memorandum declared that all Bah?'?s should be expelled from universities and prevented from obtaining positions of influence and employment. The memorandum further suggested that Bah?'? youth should be sent to Islamic schools with "a strong and imposing [Islamic] religious ideology" and must be expelled from schools and universities if they identified themselves as Bah?'?s. It also discussed plans for reaching beyond the borders of Iran "to confront and destroy their [Bah?'?] cultural roots outside the country."

Twenty-First Century Developments

International efforts to focus on Iran's human rights record faltered in April 2002. Iranian officials were able to convince other nations that the previous seventeen resolutions adopted by the UN Commission on Human Rights were not helpful in advancing human rights in Iran and other means would prove more effective in improving the status of Bah?'?s, and other groups, in that country.

After the Commission on Human Rights suspended its monitoring of Iran, arrests and short-term detentions of Bah?'?s increased. Bah?'? teachers and students were constantly watched and harassed. Instances of confiscation increased, while attempts to obtain redress from the courts failed. The Bah?'? community constitutes Iran's largest non-Muslim religious minority, yet it remains unrecognized by Iran's constitution.

Thousands of newspaper articles about the situation of the Bah?'?s in Iran have appeared around the world. Prominent international organizations, including the European Parliament and several national legislatures, have passed resolutions expressing serious concern for their situation.

SEE ALSO Iran; Religious Groups

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bah?'? International Community (1994). The Bah?'?s: A Profile of the Bah?'? Faith and Its Worldwide Community. New York: Author.

Bah?'? International Community (1999). The Bah?'? Question: Iran's Secret Blueprint for the Destruction of a Religious Community. New York: Author.

U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). "The Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom." May 2003.

U.S. Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. "The Fifth Annual Report on International Religious Freedom." December 18, 2003.

Kit Bigelow
Jerry K. Prince