Dear friends and visitors

I have spoken about the sacrifice of Bahaullah Who was tortured, scorned, stripped of all His belongings, banished and had to spend forty years in prison, .Who was not killed as Jesus, because of His noble lineage, being a descendant of Abraham and Keturah. However, He was meant to die in the Black Pit, but He survived.

Indeed God protects His Messengers and let them take their flight into the eternal heavens when they have fulfilled their mission. And Bahaullah also says:

"Give heed to My warning, ye people of Persia! If I be slain at your hands, God will assuredly raise up one who will fill the seat made vacant through My death, for such is God's method carried into effect of old, and no change can ye find in God's method of dealing. Seek ye to put out God's light that shineth upon its earth? Averse is God from what ye desire. He shall perfect His light, albeit ye abhor it in  the secret of your hearts."


From the very beginning in the 1840ies the Bahai Faith was abhorred by the clergy, just like the pharisees abhorred the message of Christ. There has indeed been a return of the pharisees.

Up to this time the persecutions of the Bahais  have continued, though the Iranian authorities try to hide it, in different ways.

I have a book "Strangers in their native land" by Ezzatollah Djazayeri. I'll quote from it that you may come a little closer to the reality of the Iranian Bahais. And also of the Bahais in other muslim countries. They have to sacrifice their lives, they are shot on the prisonyards, they are tortured, they are left as outcasts. The holy places and buildings are torn down by bulldozers, their cemeteries are made into parkingplaces. They are stripped off their belongings, they must not gather, their institutions are forbidden they  must recant their faith or die.
Such is their plight.

Here is a story of a young girl  .Her name  was Muna Mahmudnezhad.
.
"...when the anti-Bahai agitations and physical attacks broke loose in early autumn 1978, Muna was only eleven years old. She was slightly more than fifteen years of age at the time of her arrest on the evening of October 23, 1982, and imprisonement at the Pasdaran prison in Shiraz. On that evening four Islamic guards entered the family's house with arrest order from their superiors. Muna and her father were briefly interrogated, then the house was searched from top to bottom. They confiscated books and other family belongings, and left the house taking with them the father and the daughter. Her worried mother stated:'That you take my husband I may somehow understand, but why my little daughter?'
The leader of the guard retorted: "'You had better say 'this little Bahai teacher'. As it can be seen from her answers and written compositions in your hands she evidences capacities and aptitude which will enable her to become a prominent Bahai teacher in the future.'

So it does not require much imagination to deduce that the Islamic tribunal and authorities were determined to stop her development there and then. They resolved to deny her the future. So the hooded interrogators and their sickening manners began challenging the Bahai teenager. Her eight months imprisonments at the Pasdaran prison in Shiraz, and Adel-Abad prison, outside the city, and her experiences there will take a book of most revealing nature. To be confined in a prison cell of twenty-four square metres together with forty-five other inmates, midnight interrogations for several hours without interruption while blind-folded and facing the wall, regularly being subjected to the foulest phrases, experiencing one's father's conditions at the torture chamber, witnessing the frightening miseries of other prisoners, in particular pregnant women, mothers with their infants, ill and shattered, undernourished and without a small token of decent medical treatment, are some of those experiences to mention. Indeed a corner of hell or worse comes to mind. Our witness on the spot, who has recorded these accounts, has indeed, rendered an invaluable service to history and the truth. She writes that Muna's presence among all those prisoners, most of whom were none- Bahais, was a source of strength and inner comfort. We read that Muna's personality impressed everyone. She was selfless, steadfast, courageous, dignified, and full of vitality and spiritual strength. She had the conduct of an unconquerable heroine, yet at the same time radiated the innocence of a little child.She always came out of the interrogations triumphantly, the interrogations that frightened and unnerved even the toughest military men and politicians.
No one among the prisoners could ever believe that: 'This pure, upright, gentle, innocent, virtous, magnanimous, kind and wonderful little girl would be delivered to the hands of the executioner.' The interrogators and the judge insisted over and over that she should recant the Bahai Faith and live. But Muna always responded with mature and educative answers concerning the truth and justification of Bahaullah and the Bahai Faith. One of the Islamic judges remarks during an interrogation was:                                                                     'I know that you have a beautiful voice when chanting prayers. I have listened to the cassettes confiscated from your home. Your guilt is therefore established. Because you could delude and beguile the young people with your voice.'                                                                        Muna answered, 'Your honour,, is the chanting of the words of God a guilt, or a crime?'
The judge adviced her to recant her religion, and then she would be free to go back to school and resume a normal life outside the prison walls. Otherwise, the judge warned for the last time, she would loose her life. Muna refused the former firmly and accepted the latter unhesitatingly. The irritated turbaned judge speaking scornfully, raised his voice and said:                                                                                      'Young girl, what do you know about religion?'                                       Muna rejoined:                                                                                        'Your honour, I was brought here from the classroom in school. I have been in prison and going through trials for three months. What better proof of my religious certitude than my perseverance and steadfastness in the Faith?'                                                                       Having been struck by the quick wit of the sixteen-year old prisoner, the Islamic judge questioned her reproachingly that what harm had she found in Islam that she turned to the Bahai faith. Muna was never short of timely and relevant answer. Her calm, clear, and informative answer was:
'The foundation of all religions is one. From time to time, according to the exigencies of time and place, God sends His Messengers to renew religion and guide the people in the right path. The Bahai religion upholds the truth in Islam, but if by Islam you mean the prevailing animosity, murder and bloodshed in the country, a sample of which I have witnessed in prison, that is the reason I have chosen to be a Bahai.'
What were the options open to the Islamic judge after such a demontsration of purposefulness and clear motivation?Sparks of Tahiri 1) could be seen in her manners. She had already become 'a prominent teacher' as stated by the leader of the Islamic guards on the evening of her arrest. The future had already begun. So the judge decided to cut it short. The authorities may have succeeded in imprisoning and finally taking her life, but they failed miserably in subduing her will, or crushing her spirit. Instead Muna has become a heroic ideal around the world.

About two years ago a number of internationally recognized composers, film makers, singers, and actors came together in Canada to pay tribute to her as a symbol of vision and sacrifice. Composer Jack Lenz, singer Buffy St.Marie, actor Alex Rocco, musicians Seals and Croft, song writer Doug Cameron and many others worked together to produce a music video. Producer Alex Frame and chinematographer Rodney Charters were also struck by the idea and offered their services. The video is a reconstruction of Munas life and the prison time...It has received extensive publicity in many countries and seen by millions of people. ...It uis entitled 'Muna and the Children'.
She was chosen as a symbol of the Bahai martyrs of Iran. It is hoped that through her life and actions we might understand the nature of their service to humanity."

1.)Tahirih was the martyred heroine among many others of the Babi dispensation. I'll tell her story too later

It is said somewhere in the Scriptures that, "The people of Persia is a wild people, but not when they have become Bahais."
So here is one of the the reasons for The Christs Spirit coming back on Iranian soil and not in the western Christian area.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bahaullah+and+the+bahai+faith&search=Search

www.Bahai.org   www.Bahai.us

Bye for now
Kind regards from
Laila

    Hi Nick

Thanks for "writing" again. I had become so used to your sending me photos that I was wondering if you had travelled somewhere. I hope you are not ill.
I am so glad for your company, you should know.
I certainly appreciate the sweet photo of Yoko and John..
Thank you very much dear friend

Bye

Laila