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Bahá’í News

December 1979

Bahá’í Year 136

Enoch Olinga

‘The Father of Victories’

1927-1979

[Page 0] To All National Spiritual Assemblies

HIGHLY GRATIFIED NEWS JUST RECEIVED ALL BAHÁ’Í PRISONERS BAGHDÁD RELEASED AS PART GENERAL AMNESTY. WE OFFER THANKSGIVING BAHÁ’U’LLÁH HIS BOUNTIFUL GRACE ENABLING HIS STEADFAST FRIENDS DEMONSTRATE THEIR UNWAVERING LOYALTY HIS PRECIOUS FAITH.

The Universal House of Justice

August 20, 1979

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Contents

Enoch Olinga
Hand of the Cause, His wife, three children slain in Uganda	2
House of the Báb
Mobs in Shíráz mount destructive attack on Most Holy Shrine	4
Status Report
Swiss Federation of Churches documents anti-Bahá’í mood in Írán	6
History lesson
In Cradle of Faith, persecution is a way of life for Bahá’ís	10
The stone cutters
Italian craftsmen pay a loving tribute to the House of Justice	12
Around the world
News from Bahá’í communities in every corner of the globe	14

Cover

The Bahá’í world was profoundly shocked and grieved in September when the Universal House of Justice announced the news of the brutal murder in Kampala, Uganda, of the beloved Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga, his wife Elizabeth, and three of their children. The motive for the slayings was unknown. Mr. Olinga, who was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for his efforts in opening the British Cameroons to the Faith, was called the ‘Father of Victories’ by the guardian, Shoghi Effendi, who in October 1957 appointed Mr. Olinga a Hand of the Cause, the first and only member of his race ever to achieve that distinction. A brief biography of Mr. Olinga appears on Pages 2 and 3.

Change of address should be reported directly to Office of Membership and Records, Bahá’í National Center, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091, U.S.A. Please attach mailing label. Subscription rates: one year, U.S. $8; two years, U.S. $15. Second class postage paid at Wilmette, IL 60091.Copyright © 1979, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. World Rights Reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.

Bahá’í News is published monthly for circulation among Bahá’ís only by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, as a news organ reporting current activities of the Bahá’í world community. Manuscripts submitted should be typewritten and double spaced throughout; any footnotes should appear at the end. The contributor should keep a carbon copy. Send materials to: Bahá’í News Editorial Office, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091, U.S.A.

[Page 2] WITH GRIEF-STRICKEN HEARTS ANNOUNCE TRAGIC NEWS BRUTAL MURDER DEARLY LOVED GREATLY ADMIRED HAND CAUSE GOD ENOCH OLINGA BY UNKNOWN GUNMEN COURTYARD HIS KAMPALA HOME. HIS WIFE ELIZABETH, AND THREE OF HIS CHILDREN BADI, LENNIE AND TAHIRIH HAVE ALSO FALLEN INNOCENT VICTIMS THIS CRUEL ACT. MOTIVE ATTACK NOT YET ASCERTAINED. HIS RADIANT SPIRIT, HIS UNWAVERING FAITH, HIS ALL-EMBRACING LOVE, HIS LEONINE AUDACITY IN THE TEACHING FIELD, HIS TITLES KNIGHT BAHÁ’U’LLÁH FATHER VICTORIES CONFERRED BELOVED GUARDIAN, ALL COMBINE DISTINGUISH HIM AS PRE-EMINENT MEMBER HIS RACE IN ANNALS FAITH AFRICAN CONTINENT. URGE FRIENDS EVERYWHERE HOLD MEMORIAL GATHERINGS BEFITTING TRIBUTE HIS IMPERISHABLE MEMORY. FERVENTLY PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS NOBLE SOUL AND SOULS FOUR MEMBERS HIS PRECIOUS FAMILY.

THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

September 17, 1979

The Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga

‘The Father of Victories’

[Page 3] The Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga and his wife, Elizabeth, are shown during a Bahá’í conference in Brazil in 1977. Mr. Olinga, his wife and three of their children were slain by unknown gunmen September 16 outside their home in Kampala, Uganda.

According to news reports, later confirmed by the Universal House of Justice, the beloved Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga, his wife and three of their five children were brutally slain by unknown assassins in the courtyard of their home in Kampala, Uganda, sometime during the early morning hours of Sunday, September 16.

The reports said nothing was taken from the home, and the motive for the murders was unknown.

Only a few months before his tragic death, Mr. Olinga had cabled the Universal House of Justice the joyous news that the House of Worship in Kampala was once again open following the overthrow of the government of Gen. Idi Amin.

Mr. Olinga, a native of Kampala, embraced the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in 1952 and spent the years from 1952-63 as a pioneer in West Africa, principally in the Cameroons, Nigeria and Ghana.

He became a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh when, through his heroic efforts, the British Cameroons was opened to the Faith, and in October 1957 was named a Hand of the Cause of God by the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, the only indigenous African ever to achieve that distinction.

Mr. Olinga was one among the last contingent of Hands of the Cause appointed by the Guardian, who passed away the following month. Others named at that time were Hasan M. Balyúzí, Abu’l-Qásim Faizí, H. Collis Featherstone, John Ferraby, Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir, John Robarts and William Sears.

Following his appointment as a Hand of the Cause, Mr. Olinga traveled extensively in Europe, South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Fluent in six languages, he was an economist and author of several books, the most important of which is Social and Economic Problems—Their Solution.

Mr. Olinga represented the Universal House of Justice on numerous occasions, such as the Bahá’í National Conventions in the Dominican Republic and Cuba in 1961, and in later years in Burundi/Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Liberia, The Gambia, and at the first Bahá’í Oceanic Conference in Palermo, Sicily, in 1968.

During the course of his travels, Mr. Olinga met many heads of state including President Tubman of Liberia, President Kenyatta of Kenya, President Shazar of Israel, and President Ahidjo of the Cameroon Republic.

In 1971 he visited several countries in Central and South America, and was warmly greeted by the Premier of Belize, the Governor of the Panama Canal Zone, and His Excellency Demetrio Lacas, then President of the Republic of Panama.

Memorial services for Mr. Olinga and his family were held in Bahá’í communities all over the world. In the U.S., a formal service was held Saturday, October 13, at the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois.

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The attack on the House of the Báb

The following account of the partial destruction in September of the House of the Bab in Shíráz, Írán, was prepared by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom.

Last March, barely a month after the Revolution, all major Bahá’í Holy Places in Írán were forcibly occupied by the Revolutionary Guardsmen.

The House of the Báb, the Most Holy Place in Írán for Bahá’ís, was confiscated under the pretext of protection from vandalism by the mob. The Central Revolutionary Committee in Shíráz then asked the Bahá’ís to surrender their local Bahá’í Center, a choice property in the town, for the use of the Revolutionary Committee, in exchange for the protection of the House of the Báb, which was already in their possession.

All properties owned by the Bahá’í community were subsequently confiscated in June. After repeated appeals by Bahá’ís in Írán and abroad, the Revolutionary Government assured the Bahá’ís that such confiscation was done only for the purpose of protecting the properties, although a number of them (including the Bahá’í National Office, the Bahá’í Summer School and the Temple land in Ṭihrán) were being used by the Revolutionary Committees and all had been partially or totally looted.

[Page 5] On September 8:

• A countrywide demonstration was called to commemorate the historic uprising last year that led to the downfall of the Sháh.
• After the end of the procession, a group of 100 to 150 of the demonstrators in Shíráz moved toward the House of the Báb. In preparation for what they wanted to achieve, various items of equipment needed for destruction and demolition of the House were already stored in an Islamic religious building, the “Husayniyyih.” Armed with this equipment, they raided the House of the Báb on the morning of Saturday, September 8.

They were led by a Mr. Shomali, chief construction builder, working for Ayatollah Baha’eddin Mahallati, an arch-enemy of the Bahá’í Faith in Shíráz. He was accompanied by Mr. Asadpour, Ayatollah Mahallati’s manager, a Haji Sharif who is head of the Religious Endowments Department of Shíráz, as well as a mullá called Sheikh Muḥammad Abtahi.

• The group was supported by 25 militiamen of Revolutionary Guards and about 10 civilians armed with pistols and guns.
• They poured into the House from various directions. They even had the key to the gate, which had been in the possession of the Central Revolutionary Committee of Shíráz who had confiscated the property by force a few months earlier.
• They mobbed the House and started to rip out the ornamented doors and windows, loot the furniture and carpets, and vandalize the whole building. They even set fire to the orange trees in the yard.
• As soon as this unexpected attack started, the Bahá’ís in Shíráz appealed to the local authorities, such as the Police Department, the Justice Department and the Prosecutor General. All of them gave the same reply—that it was not wise for them to interfere in this affair.

By the afternoon the mob had made a hole in the wall that connected the House of the Báb with the adjacent Muslim religious school. They had also removed another wall between the House and the adjacent mosque.

• Some of those in the mosque revealed to Bahá’ís that they wanted to clear the land on which the buildings owned by the Bahá’í community stood, in order to build an annex for the mosque and the school.

On September 9:

• Mr. Shomali appeared on the scene again, with seven of his construction workers, and they started to systematically and professionally demolish the building. They first demolished the upper story, which includes the sacred room in which the Báb revealed His mission, and which was ordained as a place of pilgrimage for Bahá’ís by Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith. They then started to demolish the rest of the House.
• Meanwhile, Mr. Golpayegani, a mullá representing Ayatollah Khomeini in Shíráz, inspected the site.
• The Bahá’ís whose appeal had been turned down by the local authorities appealed to Ayatollah Mahallati and his son, Ayatollah Majdedin Mahallati. The Ayatollah frankly replied that the whole thing had been done at his instruction, because this House was the center of godlessness, oppression and everything evil. The Bahá’ís, he said, should recant their Faith and become Muslims so that they would not need this House as a Holy Place any longer. If they remained Bahá’ís, he added, this is what would happen to them.

On September 10:

• While the demolition was being carried out by the workers of Mr. Shomali, the representative of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Írán arrived in Shíráz and met with the officials of the Foundation for the Destitute, which was the body claiming the ownership of the property after its confiscation.

The officials said they did not know of the incident, and referred the Bahá’ís to the Revolution’s Prosecutor General, Mr. Katozian. This time, Mr. Katozian talked to the officials of the municipality and the police.

• The Shíráz Municipality then sent its officials to stop the demolition and some police were sent to guard the House. By the end of the third day, the demolition work was stopped, leaving the House a bare skeleton.

[Page 6] Federation of Protestant
Churches in Switzerland
Human Rights Commission
Zurich, September 12, 1979

DECLARATION ON THE STATE OF RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN ÍRÁN

In agreement with the executive committee of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Switzerland, its Human Rights Commission publishes this document on the state of the Bahá’ís in Írán.

At the beginning of July (1979) all federal parliamentarian groups appealed to the Íránian authorities to grant freedom of conscience (i.e., religious freedom) to the Bahá’ís in Írán.

At the same time, the Human Rights Commission of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Switzerland received this documentation of the situation of the Bahá’ís in Írán, with the request to publish it once notified.

At the end of August we were notified to proceed. Meanwhile, the Íránian government had taken further actions against the Bahá’ís. Thus, at registration, children who declare their membership in this religious community are not admitted to school. Further, 37 national Bahá’í leaders have been placed on a list of those who may not leave Írán. At present, their sanctuaries, which are of international importance, are profaned and destroyed.

The 300,000 Christians, who mostly belong to ethnic minorities, are, it seems, subjected to less important oppressions. Nevertheless, their hospitals have been confiscated, correspondence courses stopped, and libraries closed. The Íránian members of the Episcopal Church have been affected most.

We are aware that here it is not only a question of the rights of Bahá’ís or Christians, but of the religious freedom of minorities and the respect of the dignity of all the peoples living in Írán in general. Terrified by the persecution of the Kurds, we are publishing this document today in the hope that those persons invested with the task of elaborating a new constitution for Írán would pay special attention to the protection of minorities and would grant religious freedom.

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Írán’s Bahá’í community: An impartial report

Report on the State of the Bahá’í Community in Írán

Introduction—The Bahá’í community in Írán has a tradition and history in this country dating back to 1844. During the ensuing years, members of that community have contributed to the education and welfare of the Íránian nation and have been loyal citizens and peace-loving individuals. They are devout in conviction and belief and support the religious proposition that Bahá’í believers may not participate in any political movement in Írán. They are brave and courageous. Several years ago the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís in Írán wrote a letter to the former Sháh announcing they would not join his newly formed rastakhiz national party. This was a political tool used by the former Sháh to test the loyalty of his subjects, and by presenting such a letter to him the Bahá’ís here showed genuine courage.

Recently a national referendum was held on the question of whether to form an Islamic Republic in Írán. The ballot had two possible answers: Yes or No. The Bahá’í national leadership wrote to Prime Minister Bazargan and said their religious convictions would not allow any Bahá’í to vote in the national referendum. Such a written statement issued during the tense days of the post-revolution fervor again exhibited the amazing courage of their convictions.

The report that follows is a collection of facts gathered by the author and presented in the belief that religious harassment of the Bahá’ís and their Faith has reached proportions that call for a concerted effort by non-aligned nations and Third World media to publicize this state of affairs with the purpose of preventing further loss of property and possible loss of life to the 450,000 members of this community.

Method of Presentation—This report is prepared in five sections. The first three are specific areas of harassment and even persecution against the Bahá’ís in Írán:

• administrative
• financial
• personal and social

Then there is a prediction of events in the immediate future if the logic of the past actions is followed through by Islamic actions; and finally, a request for action.

1. Administrative Strangulation—Several days after the Íránian Islamic Revolution (now dated as having begun on Sunday, February 11, 1979, when the Íránian Army declared its “neutrality” and thereby caused the fall of the government), groups of unidentified gunmen systematically attacked some 20 centers of the Bahá’í community in various districts of Ṭihrán. Their method of attack was similar in all instances:

Once inside buildings and offices, they would break open drawers, filing cabinets and safes and would take away documents, correspondence files, books and even office equipment (such as typewriters, memo and photocopy machines).

Places attacked include the headquarters of the National Spiritual Assembly and the Ṭihrán Spiritual Assembly and Bahá’í District Communities’ Coordinating Center in Ṭihrán. The city youth center for Bahá’í young people was occupied. Efforts were made to move the offices of the Spiritual Assembly of Ṭihrán to another area. This was done several times, and on each occasion the new premises were attacked shortly after they started work again.

Spiritual meetings and religious classes while in session suffered the same fate. Revolutionary militiamen would invade the premises of these gatherings and break them up. They acted on the excuse that reports of anti-revolutionary activities were taking place. Often the religious teachers were arrested and taken away and held for several hours. On one occasion a teacher was held for several days. Bahá’ís were interrogated, frightened, and placed under heavy psychological stress. When released, these leaders and teachers had to sign a statement pledging not to attend or promote “unauthorized or anti-revolutionary meetings.”

The membership lists of Bahá’ís in Írán were carefully guarded in registries in the National Spiritual Assembly headquarters in Ṭihrán. However, about two months ago these were stolen. It is assumed they are now in the hands of an ultra-conservative Muslim brotherhood called the “Tabliqat-i-Islami” (The Islamic Propaganda Group). During the past month two separate letters—put in the context of polite yet firm language—have been mailed to many of the Ṭihrán Bahá’í community at their home address and specifically addressed to them by name. This indicates that the sender has the lists. This anti-Bahá’í correspondence “invites” the Bahá’ís to convert to Islam.

About 75,000 of the estimated 450,000 Bahá’ís in Írán live in the greater Ṭihrán area. It is not known how many of these have received this hate mail.

(For comparison’s sake, there are about 60,000 Jews, 20,000 Zoroastrians and 300,000 Christians in Írán today.)

It seems that the obvious purpose of this harassment is to paralyze the administration of the Bahá’í community in Írán.

2. Financial Strangulation—The Bahá ’ís of Írán had formed a commercial company called Sherkat Omana (The Trustees’ Company). In early June a letter from the Bonyad Mostaz’a’fan (The Foundation for the Dispossessed) directed an employee of this organization to take whatever action was necessary in determining the identification and verification of the place and

[Page 8] purpose of the Sherkat Omana. The reason for this directive was that the Sherkat Omana had been officially confiscated by the direct order of the National Írán Islamic Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Under the present Islamic system of government, the phrase “confiscated properties” connotes those properties that belonged to criminals in Írán executed for crimes against humanity and corruption on earth or whose leaders stand accused of usury.

A sub-section of the “Foundation for the Dispossessed” is called “The Department of Confiscated Properties” and it is this sub-section that officially took over the Sherkat Omana.

When the offices of the Sherkat Omana were occupied by representatives of the Foundation, all employees were called together into one large room. One by one, each was interrogated in front of the group. They were accused of being guilty of the following:

• Bahá’ís are agents of Zionism.
• Bahá’ís are collaborators with Israel.
• Bahá’ís have been identified as composing over half the known staff of torturers in SAVAK (the secret police).
• Bahá’ís lived under the protection of SAVAK.

The manager of the company was ordered to hand over the keys to all strong boxes, safes and locked files. Then he was commanded to appoint a person to take representatives of the Foundation to each piece of property that is owned by the Sherkat Omana. This person is now being forced to show all Bahá’í properties (one by one) to the Foundation representative. This investigation is being carried out based on the ownership documents found in the Sherkat Omana.

All assets and furnishings of the company were taken over by these men from the Foundation. All employees of the company were summarily dismissed on that day and told not to come back to work for any reason.

The sobering meaning of this act is that all income-producing property plus buildings and land used solely for Bahá’í religious purposes are being taken over by the Islamic government of Írán. A list of some of these properties and the extent to which the act of confiscation has been completed as of the date of this report is as follows:

1. Cemeteries—Many Bahá’í cemeteries in Írán have been taken over during the month of June by the Foundation. In those places where this has happened, the question is, “Where will Bahá’ís be allowed to be buried?” Bahá’í population figures indicate that an average of two Bahá’ís die of natural causes every day in Írán.
2. National Headquarters—Recently the National Spiritual Assembly’s headquarters in Ṭihrán was taken over.
3. Youth Center—Within the last several weeks the citywide Bahá’í Youth Center situated in a beautiful walled-in garden was confiscated.
4. Recreation Center—A large piece of open, yet walled-in property in the foothills of northern Ṭihrán and covering some four million square meters of land (988 acres or one and a half square miles) was occupied at rifle point by Revolutionary Guards in early June. The name of this property was changed to that of a leading Muslim prophet and has been declared to be the Central Headquarters for the Training of Islamic Revolutionary Guards in Ṭihrán.
5. Hospital—The only medical facility in all Írán that is affiliated with the Bahá’ís was served notice in mid-June by the Foundation that its property had been confiscated. An investigative committee from the Foundation has been probing daily into the affairs of the hospital and last week forced the leadership of the hospital to relinquish signatory powers of all bank accounts, and therefore all financial authority is in the hands of the Foundation for all hospital accounts. The Foundation has not yet closed the hospital. One reason may be that it is one of the finest charity hospitals in Ṭihrán and contributed over one million tomans worth of free medical care to the injured and wounded during the height of the Revolution.
6. Sherkat Nawnahalan (The Children’s Company)—This investment company was taken over in early June by representatives of the Foundation.

This company is a completely Bahá’í-owned organization. It was founded in 1917 as a company to encourage Bahá’í children to begin life by being thrifty and saving a little of their allowances each month for the future. This company got its name from this program. At that time each share was five shahis (about 50 U.S. cents) and the company had capital assets of three thousand rials (about 5,000 U.S. dollars). Today the company’s shares are one hundred rials each (U.S. $1.50) and there are now about 15,000 shareholders. The vast majority are Bahá’ís, with some few Muslims and Christians participating. No one person as a shareholder has a controlling interest in the company. Fifty per cent of the equity of this company is held by the Bahá’í community (this includes many of the local Bahá’í Assemblies in cities and villages over Írán—as many as 500 Assemblies altogether). The other 50 per cent is held by individual shareholders who are mostly Bahá’í children, or those who started saving there as children and now, as adults, continue with the plan.

The importance of this company for the Bahá’ís is twofold:

1. It is one of the main financial centers for the Bahá’í community in Írán. With the confiscation of this company the work of the Bahá’í community in Írán will be paralyzed.
2. Because most of the shareholders and depositors of this company are Bahá’ís, and many have put most—if not all—of their savings for the future into this organization, the personal loss to thousands of Bahá’ís is incalculable.

When this company was taken over, the revolutionary guards told the officials that the company was being confiscated because it was anti-Islamic and was participating in the field of financial credit that rightly belongs to recognized and registered banks in Írán. Also, it was said that the company was guilty of collecting funds in the form of usury.

Although the company has been taken over, all shares are still in circulation and the representatives of the Foundation are saying that they will continue to be so until such time as the Central Committee of the Foundation decides on the best use of the company’s assets and profits.

If the present progression of events continues, it is anticipated that with the confiscation of these facilities by the Islamic authorities, the Bahá’í community in Írán will be deprived of every vestige of property all over the nation.

3. Social and Personal Strangulation—It is estimated that there are now about 20 Bahá’ís in Qasr Prison in Ṭihrán. It is believed that all these Bahá’ís were arrested on trumped up charges, all of which omitted any reference to their being Bahá’í. The pretexts being used against these Bahá’ís in prison includes the following:

• being a former senior Íránian military officer;
• being a large land owner;
• being an extraordinarily wealthy person;

[Page 9]

• being a former high ranking civil servant.

There is also personal economic repression. A businessman was arrested in the middle of the night and was later released after he had “volunteered to contribute” two million rials (30,000 U.S. dollars) to the Revolutionary Central Committee. As far as is known, none of the 300-plus men executed under the Islamic Revolutionary Regime has been Bahá’í.

Photocopies of “Letters of Termination of Employment” from Íránian government agencies are on file with Bahá’í officials in Ṭihrán showing clearly that at least 50 Bahá’ís—men and women—have been openly dismissed from government service since the Revolution because they are believers in the Bahá’í Faith. Letters of complaint have been sent to Imam Khomeini and the Prime Minister’s office, but these have not even been acknowledged.

A leading Muslim Ayatollah has stated that Bahá’ís are people whom Muslims may annihilate without fear of punishment.

Records in the files of the National Headquarters of the Bahá’ís of Írán show that in 28 locations in Írán, Bahá’ís have been forced to deny their faith. They include the following:

1. Before the Revolution—Shíráz, Marv Dasht, Abadeh and Bushihr.
2. After the Revolution—Miandoab, Hassar, Namagh (in Khurasan), Maragheh and surrounding villages, and Hamadan and surrounding villages.

The proposed constitution of Írán does not recognize the Bahá’í Faith as a legitimate religious body in the new Islamic Republic. Bahá’ís will have no rights of personal status if it is approved. This means they must deny their faith in order to be married or divorced, distribute inheritances and estates, or adopt children, because they must pretend to be someone else to do these acts. The reason? These four acts of personal status are religious acts that must be done according to the rules of one of the four recognized religions of the country—of which the Bahá’í Faith is not included.

Some religious leaders of the Islamic Faith have been asked why the Bahá’ís were not mentioned in the proposed constitution. One answer has been that since there are so few Bahá’ís in the country, it is useless to designate as legimate such an insignificant minority. This is said about the largest of the four religious minorities in Írán!

Some conservative and fanatical Muslim leaders call Bahá’ís apostates because Bahá’ís believe Bahá’u’lláh represents a Manifestation of God after the Prophet Muḥammad. A minority of Muslims accuse Bahá’ís of saying that the Hidden Imam—Mehdi—has returned in the person of the Báb. In this latter context, an Ayatollah has announced that on the 15th of Sha’aban (July 10, 1979, which is the birthday of the 12th or Hidden Imam of Shiite Islam) he will personally celebrate the birthday of Mehdi in the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds of the Bahá’ís in Shíráz. If this offensive gesture is indeed carried out by this Ayatollah, it would be symbolically important because of the early life of the Báb in Shíráz and would exhibit contempt by this Muslim cleric for the Bahá’í Faith.

Several weeks ago in Mashhad, two of the leading Ayatollahs announced with great fanfare that 25 Bahá’í centers had been discovered in that city and were raided and “cleansed” by Revolutionary Guards. In reality, the 25 centers included two Bahá’í centers and 23 homes of prominent members of the Bahá’í community in Mashhad. The homes have been returned to their owners, but the two centers have been turned into Islamic study organizations. Why were these Bahá’í facilities in Mashhad raided? The newspaper wrote that Bahá’ís are “spies for the USSR, the U.S., the UK and Israel!”

‘There is fear based on the confiscation of Bahá’í property and funds that the next logical step will be further to openly and aggressively seek the involuntary conversion of the Bahá’ís to Islam.’

There is fear based on the confiscation of Bahá’í property and funds that the next logical step will be further to openly and aggressively seek the involuntary conversion of the Bahá’ís to Islam.

4. The Future—It is felt that two steps might be taken by Islamic authorities in the near future against Bahá’ís.

a. One may best be described by the Persian expression namad-mali, or “pressing the felt.” This is an illustration taken from the making of felt from loose hairs of fur or wool. They are heated and then by heavy pressure are slowly flattened out until smooth. Such action might include the freezing of personal and privately owned Bahá’í assets or even their confiscation.

b. The next and more serious step would be the prohibition of any Bahá’í gathering for any reason, which would mean that the Bahá’ís would have to go underground or emigrate from Írán under the threat of arrest or worse.

5. A Request—It is requested that news media be apprised of these facts and this information.

• That the media be asked to publish in their outlets reports of the dangers that confront the Bahá’ís in Írán.
• That the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations be notified of what has happened and that this matter be introduced to the United Nations through a neutral or Third World nation.

This is a most serious time in the history of the Bahá’í community in Írán. Unless immediate steps are taken through appropriate channels, there is a real and present danger to a group of faithful disciples of the religion of Bahá’u’lláh.

[Page 10]

A brief history of persecution of the Faith in the land of its birth

The recent mob attacks on Bahá’ís in Írán have once again called attention to the status of the Bahá’í Faith in the land of its origin. In cities, towns and villages—among them Isfahan, Fathabad, Arak, Sangsar, Nayriz, Sarvestan—over three hundred private homes and dozens of shops and business enterprises have been looted, burned down or otherwise destroyed. In Isfahan a clinic that belonged to Bahá’ís was dynamited. Elsewhere, orchards were seized and farmers deprived of their means of livelihood. A number of Bahá’í centers have been demolished or burned to the ground. Bahá’í communities have been terrorized, individuals and families beaten, and, in some instances, driven to the mosques and forced to recant their faith.

Many find it difficult to understand why members of a religious minority dedicated to tolerance, peace, and universal brotherhood arouse hatred in those among whom they live. The reasons for the persecutions, the hatred, and the violence lie deep in the socio-psychological structure of Persian society and go back more than a century to the year 1844, when a young merchant of Shíráz, later known as the Báb, founded a new religion whose followers rejected the literal interpretation of the Koran and held that soon “He Whom God Shall Make Manifest” would appear on earth to bring a new Law and to inaugurate a new era in the history of mankind. In 19th century Írán, where even the notion of religious liberty did not exist, the teachings of the Báb were bound to produce a violent reaction. Accused of heresy, the Báb was imprisoned for several years and finally executed in 1850. This did not stop the spread of the Báb’s teachings, nor did it stop the resistance of His disciples who defended themselves with great valor against attacks by the united forces of the clergy and the government. There ensued a campaign of extermination in which some twenty thousand Bábís were killed. The cruelty of the suppression, the indiscriminate massacre of women and children, the tortures inflicted upon masses of innocent people have been eloquently described both by participants and outside observers, among the latter Comte de Gobineau and Edward G. Browne. The bloodshed left a legacy of suspicion, fear, and pain.

Thirteen years after the martyrdom of the Báb, one of His leading disciples who had been exiled to Baghdad by the Persian government proclaimed himself to be the One whose advent the Báb had prophesied. He became known as Bahá’u’lláh. Most of the Báb’s followers accepted Bahá’u’lláh’s claim and became known as Bahá’ís. Over the next forty years Bahá’u’lláh produced a vast number of works that today constitute the scripture of the religion He founded. He taught the unity of mankind and the equality of races and nations. He taught the unity of religions and universal peace. He proclaimed the harmony of religion and science, the need for universal education, and the equality of sexes. He also established the essential principles for the life and operation of a world-wide community of His followers who would govern themselves through elective bodies, would have no clergy, and would be dedicated to the common interests of all mankind.

[Page 11] The authorities, both religious and secular, kept Bahá’u’lláh in confinement and exile for forty years. Feeling threatened by ideas that challenged the outworn formulas they had mouthed for hundreds of years, Muslim clergy continued to demand the extermination of the Bahá’ís, whom they always called “heretics” and “harmful misleaders.” The Bahá’ís were turned into the scapegoats of Íránian society. As their numbers increased, they became an even more attractive target for demagogic attacks by those who wanted to distract the public or create turmoil. Since the Bahá’ís emphasized education and placed high value on work, they achieved a relatively high standard of living, which made them promising targets of pogroms. Last but not least, the tolerant and peaceful nature of the Bahá’í community made it possible to attack Bahá’ís without fear of violent retaliation.

In moments of national stress, during famines, revolutions, and invasions of the country, Bahá’ís could be blamed for the nation’s miseries. If one did not wish to pay a debt, one could accuse the creditor of being a Bahá’í. If an epidemic spread through a province, one could blame the Bahá’ís. Bahá’í ideals of world unity could be twisted to appear as a lack of patriotism. Bahá’í acceptance of the truth inherent in all great religions of mankind could be interpreted as a betrayal of Islam.

When in 1896 Nasiri’d Din Sháh was assassinated by a Pan-Islamist terrorist, the Bahá’ís were immediately accused of that deed. In the brief but violent persecution that followed, several Bahá’ís lost their lives. In 1903 more than a hundred Bahá’ís were massacred in Yazd. “In that city,” history records, “Hájí Mírzá-i-Halabí-sáz was so mercilessly flogged that his wife flung herself upon his body, and was in her turn severely beaten, after which his skull was lacerated by the cleaver of a butcher. His eleven-year-old-son was pitilessly thrashed, stabbed with penknives and tortured to death... a crowd of about six thousand people, of both sexes, vented their fury upon the helpless victims, a few going so far as to drink their blood.”

The outbreak of the revolution in 1906 precipitated new attacks on the Bahá’ís all over Írán, with particularly bloody episodes taking place in Sirjan, Dughabad, Tabriz, Qom, Najafabad, Sangsar, Shahmirzad, Isfahan, Jahrom, Mashhad, Kermanshah, and Hamadan. As the constitutional movement developed, “the reactionaries brought groundless accusations against the Bahá’ís, and publicly denounced them as supporters and inspirers of the nationalist cause.” In the chaotic conditions of World War I and its aftermath, Bahá’ís once again suffered scattered attacks in various parts of the country.

During the 1930’s attacks on the Bahá’ís were less numerous and less violent. However, the pressure against them was never entirely relaxed. Bahá’í schools were closed; Bahá’í marriages were refused recognition; Bahá’í literature was banned; gatherings were prohibited; Bahá’ís in government service were frequently dismissed from their jobs; nurses and doctors were fired from hospitals; teachers were refused employment. Occasionally, here and there, a Bahá’í was murdered. This pattern continued through World War II and the immediate post-war period.

A large scale attack on the Bahá’í community was launched in the month of Ramadan, 1955. At one of Ṭihrán’s mosques, Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Falsafi, a fanatical mulla, daily urged his flock to rise up against the “false religion.” He accused the Bahá’ís of being enemies of Islam and called for severe measures against them. The mulla was permitted to preach his incendiary sermons over government radio. The effect of the broadcasts was immediate. Old suspicions were revived. Every invention ever made to discredit a religious minority was now thrown at the Bahá’ís.

On May 2 the police locked the gates of the Bahá’í National Headquarters in Ṭihrán, and five days later the building was taken over by the army. On May 17 the Minister of the Interior proclaimed in the Parliament that the “Bahá’í sect” had been banned. A contemporary report describes what-ensued:

This was followed by an orgy of senseless murder, rape, pillage, and destruction the like of which has not been recorded in modern times. The dome of the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds (National Center) in Ṭihrán was demolished; the House of the Báb was twice desecrated and severely damaged; Bahá’u’lláh’s ancestral home in Tákur was occupied; the house of the Báb’s uncle was razed to the ground; shops and farms were plundered; crops burned; livestock destroyed; bodies of Bahá’ís disinterred in the cemeteries and mutilated; private homes broken into, damaged and looted; adults execrated and beaten; young women abducted and forced to marry Muslims; children mocked, reviled, beaten and expelled from schools; boycott by butchers and bakers was imposed on hapless villagers; young girls were raped; families murdered; government employees dismissed and all manner of pressure brought upon the believers to recant their Faith.

A world-wide campaign of publicity, expressions of sympathy for the Bahá’ís on the part of outstanding individuals in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and appeals to the United Nations resulted in some relief to the Bahá’ís of Írán. However, it took several years for passions to abate and for normalcy to return. Since then Bahá’ís have continued to live under pressure in the way forced upon them by the circumstances of history.

Though the Bahá’ís are the largest minority in Írán, their existence is not officially recognized and, unlike other minorities such as the Christians, the Jews, and the Zoroastrians, they enjoy no specific human rights. Being in their vast majority ethnic Íránians, speaking Persian or Azerbaijani, they are no foreign element, but a part of the Íránian nation to which they have been loyal. It is only the medieval intolerance of certain fanatical elements that strives to set them apart from their Muslim brothers and fellow citizens. Being non-political, law abiding, and opposed to all violence, they constitute no threat to anyone; yet they have been the most frequently persecuted group in the nation. The current outbreaks of persecutions are only an episode in the long history of cruel and senseless oppression with which the Bahá’ís have been afflicted.

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[Page 13]

The Stone Cutters of Chiampo

A stirring and poignant chapter in the history of the erection of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice was written recently, not at the World Centre of the Faith, but in Chiampo, Italy. The village of Chiampo is home to a dwindling number of master workmen who are carving the marble for the mighty edifice from which God’s Law shall go forth to unite and perfect mankind.

On July 4, 1979, the Mayor of Chiampo wrote a letter to the engineer in charge of construction of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice in Haifa, Israel. The letter said, in part:

“I have the honor to be the Mayor of Chiampo—that is, of the town which, through the Industria dei Marmi Vincentini, has had the privilege of carving the marble for the Seat of the Universal House of Justice, Bahá’í Centre, Haifa.

“In remembrance of this work, my administration has asked—and obtained permission of the Industria dei Marmi Vincentini—for a duplicate of one of the columns, to be erected in our main square in witness of the ingenuity, the art, and workmanship of our valley, and also in memory of a work of art and a Faith that will live for centuries for the peace and brotherhood of the human race... ”

The Mayor’s letter added that he and the citizens of Chiampo hoped that their contribution to the beauty and perfection of the new building would not be forgotten. He enclosed a booklet the city published for the dedication of the column on June 17, 1979.

This remarkable booklet tells the story of the stonecutters of Chiampo, whose origins, it says, are “lost in the mists of time.” It tells how son succeeded father in the “noble profession” almost as a religious vocation. The valley, says the booklet, “rang with the sweet song of hammers and chisels” as stonecutters became a “notable and characteristic source of life, riches, and art of the people of Chiampo.”

In 1904, the village of Chiampo helped establish a local School for the Arts and Professions, in an attempt to direct young people into the one activity the local economy had offered for more than two millenia.

Over the years, the school trained hundreds of students in design, pottery, the history of art, and the working of marble. The school no longer exists, and only its last pupils remain in Chiampo, “heirs to the splendid and ancient art which now—unhappily—is perhaps dying out in our area.”

The booklet continues: “However, the competence, virtuosity, and dedication of these last stonecutters are gifts still recognized, appreciated, and sought after in the world—and it is thanks to them that today, on Mount Carmel, in Haifa, Israel, is rising the Parthenon of Chiampo.” (The original Parthenon was a temple in Athens, Greece, built in the 5th Century B.C.)

The document describes the station and role of the Universal House of Justice, and outlines the history and principles of the Bahá’í Faith.

It then recalls “a similar edifice, in Ionic style, and with smaller dimensions” that was built in Haifa in 1957, also by the Industria dei Marmi Vincentini—a reference to the Bahá’í International Archives Building.

The booklet points out that whereas 2,000 workers labored for 15 years to build the Parthenon, the 2,400 cubic meters (about 9,000 metric tons) of marble for the Seat of the Universal House of Justice, which is larger than the Parthenon, were cut, shaped and carved by 20 men in only two years and two months—“a prodigy made possible by the use of machines alongside manual work” in all of the geometrically-designed pieces.

The booklet adds, however, that painstaking hand carving by true artists was necessary on many pieces—the capitals, entablature and cornices “where the marble cutting and relief work had to recreate the magic play of light and chiaroscuro (the technique of using light and shade in pictorial representation) which is so enchanting in ancient buildings.”

It was to keep alive the memory of the workmen’s artistic skills, which seem to be in less demand as fewer fine marble buildings are constructed, that the decision was made to erect a sample column, identical in material and execution to those of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice, in the center of the town square.

The column, said the booklet, was erected “in witness of the flourishing art of our region and as an example and a warning to the younger generations, so that they would not abandon an ancient and glorious tradition.”

A parchment scroll was inserted into the base of the column, explaining its purpose and giving the names of the workmen who participated in the “admirable collaboration” between the people of Chiampo and the Bahá’í World Centre.

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Around the World

Western Samoa

His Highness Malietoa Tanumafili II, head of state of Western Samoa, was one of the Samoan Bahá’ís participating in this year’s celebration of the Ninth Day of Riḍván. The observance was held at the site of the soon-to-be constructed Bahá’í House of Worship near Apia. Following the formal ceremony, His Highness the Malietoa remained for refreshments and visited with many of the friends.

Kiribati

If John Thurston, a Bahá’í who was living in Kiribati (formerly the Gilbert Islands), had sailed on time last summer to the Marshall Islands, a seven year-old girl might have lost her life in the waters of the Pacific Ocean near Abaiang Island.

Mr. Thurston had been a pioneer to Kiribati for the last seven years. When his visa expired last summer, he made plans to sail to the Marshalls in his 45-foot catamaran, the Erena Roe.

However, a last-minute charter to deliver freight to Marakei Island delayed his departure by one day.

Mr. Thurston was sailing in calm waters about two miles from Abaiang Island when a crew member, Beiatake, who is a Bahá’í, saw what looked like a human body floating in the sea. A closer look with binoculars confirmed the impression.

While Mr. Thurston turned the catamaran around, Beiatake and another member of the crew rowed toward the body in a skiff. They found a young girl floating with only her knees and nose above the surface.

As they placed a plastic sheet around the body, the girl’s eyes opened. She was alive!

On board the catamaran, the girl’s body was rubbed with oil to restore her body heat. She was placed in the cabin, and Mr. Thurston continued on to Marakei.

At Marakei, the girl, now conscious, recognized some of the local people. Mr. Thurston learned that her name was Biaua, and she was from the coastal village of Tabontebike.

The Erena Roe set out immediately for the village. Landing there near dark, the crew was greeted by the usual number of curious villagers.

When the villagers saw Biaua, they shouted with joy. She had tried to swim ashore from her family’s fishing boat earlier that day while her father and brothers fished from a nearby reef, and everyone was certain she had drowned.

Now, thanks to Mr. Thurston and his crew, she was miraculously returned to the village, and the traditional “death feast” prepared by her family was transformed instead into a joyous “welcome home” party.

Canada

Following a teaching and deepening institute at Yellowknife, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, a teaching team headed by Auxiliary Board member Hazel Lovelace crossed the Great Slave Lake to bring the Bahá’í Faith to Indians on a Reserve near Fort Resolution.

In spite of late winter temperatures that dropped to 54 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), the believers conducted the teaching work with such diligence that 37 new believers were enrolled, including the Chief, and a Spiritual Assembly was formed on the Reserve.

Before the teaching effort ended, the team had secured 88 enrollments, opened nine localities to the Faith, and helped form four Local Spiritual Assemblies.

[Page 15]

India

Fifty declarations and the formation of a Spiritual Assembly at Reliance were among the results of a visit to Guyana last July 8-15 by Kishin Khemani, an Auxiliary Board member from Maharashtra, India.

While in Guyana, Mr. Khemani visited the Speaker of the government’s National Assembly, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, and the acting High Commissioner for India. He presented each of these officials with a book about the Faith, and photos of the meetings appeared in newspapers.

On Tuesday, July 10, Mr. Khemani, accompanied by Auxiliary Board member Ed Widmer and other friends, traveled to Berbice.

Later, proclamations were held at Reliance, where Mr. Khemani presented Bahá’í books to the local library, and follow-up teaching efforts ensued. Shortly afterward, the Spiritual Assembly of Reliance was formed.

Kishin Khemani (left), an Auxiliary Board member from Maharashtra, India, is shown with Guyana’s Minister of Parliamentary Affairs (right) and its National Publicity Committee chairman during Mr. Khemani’s week-long visit to that country last July.

In July, the National Spiritual Assembly of India cabled the World Centre that the government of India “has agreed include Bahá’í Faith as one of the major religions in its moral course books for all grades up to high school. This will be the first of its kind in India ... more than 20 million students will learn of the Faith through their textbooks.

“Materials being prepared in Hindi, which is required urgently for all grade books being introduced this term starting mid-July.”

The Raja of Mandi, a small Himalayan kingdom in India’s Himchal Pradesh state, declared his belief in Bahá’u’lláh and was enrolled in the Faith last May.

The Raja first heard of the Faith from Queen Marie of Rumania when he was a young man.

A teaching team of Bahá’í youth visited Mandi early this year. The Raja indicated to them that he intended to become a Bahá’í. When another believer, Dr. Zarangiz Aftabi, followed up the visit, the Raja and five other persons were enrolled.

The Raja offered to donate land for a Bahá’í Center in Mandi, where the teaching work is continuing.

Greenland

Although at least one Bahá’í has resided in Greenland since 1951, it was not until this year that any Bahá’í community there had grown to the point at which it was able to form a Local Spiritual Assembly. The first Spiritual Assembly in the country was formed by joint declaration on April 17, 1979, at Nuuk (Godthåb), the capital of Greenland, which was opened to the Faith in 1966. Members of the Assembly are (front row left to right) Lillen Bente Delevran, James Milne; (middle row left to right) Henning Jensen, Carsten Lind, Else Boesen Jensen, Lotos Nielsen, and (back row left to right) John Berthelsen Lyberth, Ole Berthelsen, Linda Milne.

[Page 16]

Pakistan

Two Bahá’í summer schools were held in Pakistan this year to help achieve the goals of the Seven Year Plan.

The first, held July 14-19 at Quetta, was attended by 170 believers from 50 localities including some in neighboring western countries.

During that summer school, 34 youth pledged to help fulfill the goals of the Plan.

The second summer school was held August 25-29 at Rawalpindi. About 100 of the friends from 18 localities in Pakistan were joined by Bahá’ís from other countries...

Ali Sohailiyen, an Auxiliary Board member form India, visited the northern areas of Pakistan this summer on a teaching tour designed to help win the goals of the Seven Year Plan...

Children’s classes are being held regularly throughout Pakistan, and many weekend schools have taken place.

Nigeria

Since February 1979, members of Nigeria’s National Bahá’í Proclamation Committee have visited more than 40 officials of the Nigerian government. Several of these officials have expressed a keen interest in the Faith. The Commissioner of Information asked questions for more than two hours; the Attorney General for Ogun State requested a copy of Bahá’í World Faith and a rendering of one of The Hidden Words, in calligraphy, for his wall. The proclamation committee also has sponsored media workshops in Ibadan and Jos, resulting in greater media responsiveness to the Faith. Radio Oyo covered a Bahá’í panel discussion, ‘Children in the Adult World,’ in Oyo State. Here, Bahá’ís Claudius Adebayo (left) and Martha Garman (right) present Bahá’í literature to Dr. Adenja, Commissioner for Information of Ogun State (second from right). Looking on is Mrs. O.A. Adeyinka, secretary of the International Year of the Child Committee in Ogun State.

United States

The Spiritual Assembly of the Southern Ute Reservation in Colorado led a widespread teaching effort this summer in the “Four Corners” area that forms the border between the Southwestern states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.

Teaching teams involved in the effort traveled an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 miles by car, taught more than 1,000 people—many of them Native Americans—enrolled more than 200 new believers, and helped form several Local Spiritual Assemblies.

The teams taught among five or six Indian tribes, and devoted countless hours to teaching Spanish-speaking peoples in many localities.

Consolidation played an integral part in the campaign, with follow-up visits that included filmstrips, firesides, children’s classes, and teaching assistance from the new believers themselves.

In late July, the U.S. National Teaching Committee received news that a Spiritual Assembly had been formed at the Crow Agency in south-central Montana, near Billings, bringing to 35 the number of Assemblies on Indian Reservations in the U.S.

The 35 Assemblies equals the goal for the U.S. set by the Universal House of Justice for the first two-year phase of the Seven Year Plan.

The Assembly at the Crow Agency was the fourth formed on an Indian Reservation in the U.S. since last Riḍván.

[Page 17]

Finland

The Bahá’ís of Finland took full advantage of the long summer days there for proclamation efforts.

In June, Bahá’í communities in northern Finland set up a display at the Oulu Fair, where more than 200 interested visitors received literature. Later, the National Spiritual Assembly of Finland and the Bahá’í community of Oulu received requests for more information about the Faith from residents.

July began with a summer school at Jyväskylä, in Central Finland. The school was attended by a good percentage of the Finnish Bahá’í community along with guests from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, the United States and Írán.

The school emphasized obedience to the Covenant and Bahá’í administration, and featured a “crash course” in teaching the Faith in Finnish for pioneers and traveling teachers.

Child care was provided, and after evening lectures or firesides, the friends enjoyed Persian dancing.

Also in July, teaching projects were launched in Kuopio, a town just northeast of Jyväskylä, and in Rovaniemi, in Finnish Lapland.

The Bahá’ís of Finland set up this attractive display at the Oulu Fair last June. Here, the Bahá’í booth is being manned by Mahintaj Izadi.

Nicaragua

The National Spiritual Assembly of Nicaragua—a country torn by a long and bloody civil war—reports that its national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds remains intact. No documents or other possessions were lost or destroyed during the fighting between government forces and Sandinista rebels in the capital city of Managua.

All pioneers in Nicaragua are reported to be safe and unharmed, as are all members of the National Spiritual Assembly.

Unfortunately, two Bahá’ís are known to have been killed during the fighting, while a third is believed to have been killed, but that death is so far unconfirmed.

“You may reopen normal channels of communication,” said a cablegram from the National Spiritual Assembly of Nicaragua that was received last August 7 at the World Centre in Haifa.

Sweden

Four Bahá’í pioneers climbed Sweden’s Akka Mountain last August. Akka Mountain is in one of the country’s arctic parks in Lapland. Akka means ‘married woman’ in the Lappish language. The Bahá’í mountaineers are (left to right) Carol Bardin (pioneer to Finland), Michael Reeve, David Maytan, and Margaret Maytan (all pioneers to Sweden). The mountain is in the background. The Bahá’ís spent four days in the park, displaying Bahá’í posters and distributing brochures on the Faith.