Bahai Quotes
Husayn Ali Nuri. While many religions saw science as a threat or a doctrine that was anti-religious, the Bahai believe that anything that science discovers in the creation of God. Therefore, they have no trouble with Evolution as they believe that this was the pattern that God established.
Husayn Ali Nuri. His enthusiastic support of democratic reforms was taken as an attack upon the Ottoman Empire, the Czar and upon all autocratic rulers in general.
Iran has been a terrible persecutor of Bahais, their largest religious minority. The Bahai faith was an offshoot of Islam which opposed to the concept of a theocracy and in a political sense at are the opposite end of the religious spectrum from Islam. Bahai in Iran are not allowed to attend higher education institutions, build religious facilities, preach openly or serve in many roles. Many have been executed on the spot by government officials, and others have been murdered by mobs. The radical Islamic justification of these murders lies with the relative intolerance Islam has for other religions. At the inception of Islam, the Prophet preached respect for People of the Book, which included Jews and Christians. He also made exception for Zoroastrians—the pre-Islamic traditional religion of Iran. These were not executed for heresy although they were never allowed to function on an equal footing with Islam. The harshest penalties were reserved for Muslims who abandoned their faith and converted or became atheists—it was death. They were allowed to repent and repudiate their new beliefs and there would be lesser punishments. But if they did not, they were executed. It is much the same logic of the Romans requiring early Christians to renounce their new religion or die in the arena or otherwise. Bahai grew out of Islam and is in many ways a type of reform movement within Islam. The initial torture and execution of the heretics, was not very different from what the Roman Catholic Church and its Inquisition did with Protestants. Some argue that historically Islam is 700 years behind Christianity. In the Middle ages the Christian Church killed non believers and heretics. However, by modern standards, this behavior of Iran and some other Islamic countries is as barbaric and evil as anything could be. The Bahai happen to be the greatest victims these days. See {614912}.
See {624641} for Iranian confirmation of its discriminatory policy. The Iranian "justification for murdering Bahais is this: The Behai were originally Muslims and then they created an heretic form of Islam. Under Islamic Law (Sharia), any Muslim who converts away from Islam to ANY other religioun must be out to death. As barbarous as this sounds, the irrational thinking is the same as that of the Catholic Church when Protestant chiurches emerged. All of them were to be put to death. However that was over 600 years ago, and humanity has much imporoved standards today. But the Muslims are 700 years younnger than the Catholic Church and some point out that they are behaving the same way as the Catholics, brutal as it is, when the Church was at the same level of maturity as Islam is today.
Husayn Ali Nuri
Toleration of diversity of all kinds is a major tenet of the Bahai faith. As it is a relatively new religion its founder and early leaders had observed the history of religious, ethnic and ideological intolerance in the world and were determined to try and stop it. The Bahai for example are one of the few religions who do not discourage religious intermarriage and they encourage racial intermarriage.
Husayn Ali Nuri. There is a fascinating parallel between the reform of Catholicism to Protestantism and that of Islam to Bahai. In both cases the reformers wanted to communicate in the language of the people rather than the formal Latin for the Christian world and Arabic for the Muslim.
This quotation which appears absurd on the surface given Iran’s terrible record with religious minorities provides insight to Islamic orthodox thought. For the orthodox Muslim, Sharia—Koranic Law—is the basis of the society. God defines the rights of people and their obligations. Whatever rights are provided by Sharia, Khomeini and some others wished to provide them equally to religious minorities also. However, those rights do not include the right to criticize the Islamic law or the leaders who implement it. That would be heresy if done by a Muslim, a Christian, or a Jew. A Christian church may not erect a public cross or ring bells on Sunday. That is prohibited by the Koran and is imposed on all. Bahai religious adherents are tracked down in the Islamic Republic and are often executed. ‘What about their rights?’ they ask. The answer is that the Bahai were Muslims who have become “backsliders” and heretics, and under Sharia, they must be executed for heresy; they are deemed to be heretical Muslims and not members of a minority religion.
Husayn Ali Nuri
Husayn Ali Nuri. Some societies require consensus for action. Others act by majority vote. The Bahai founder set forth this process which attempts to get consensus, but if that fails, the majority then prevails.
