On Baha’i Library Forum • View topic - EXCELLENT PARAGRAPH. Copy, paste + save it! (+ use it !!): Thanks!
Jul 15th, 2008 by admin
BritishBahai on Baha’i Library Forum offers a contribution to the defense of the Faith which Adib appears to have trumped with a marvelous contribution of his own. -gw
Its quite annoying (time and time again) coming across the repetitive, outdated & poorly-planned propaganda against the Bahai Faith, which is why I have pasted a short paragraph from an amazing book:
Please copy & paste this paragraph into a Word document + save it onto your computer. Refer back to it when necessary.
[Source for the paragraph below: Islam and the Bahai Faith (by Moojan Momen), paragraph, page 234.]
The nature of some of these accusations and forgeries is no better demonstrated that the assertion in many works (for example in English: “Bahaism: its origins and its role”, published by the Revolutionary Government of Iran in the early 1980s) that the Babi and Bahai Faiths were started by both the British and Russian governments. The authors of such works are apparently unaware that the British and Russian governments were deadly enemies in Iran throughout the whole of the 19th century. They were vying with each other to prevent the spread of the other’s influence into areas that they each considered vital to their national interests. The British wanted to prevent Russia from spreading its influence southward and thus threatening British India, while the Russians were wary of any extension of British influence northwards into the areas of Caucasia and Central Asia which they were conquering and subjugating. Throughout the Middle East, Britain and Russia kept up this enmity during the whole of the 19th century, coming to a head in the Crimean War of 1853-6. The idea that two such bitter rivals and enemies would join together to create the Babi and Bahai Faiths could only have been the creation of people who knew nothing of history.
To which Adib responds… -gw
Great paragraph, thanks. I created a Wikipedia article the other day about alleged Baha’i ties to foreign powers, like Russia, Britain, Zionism, and the Shah’s secret police. Use what you will from it if you like; I tried to cite as many English sources as possible but as you can see, almost all of the sources for the final paragraph are in Farsi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baha’i_tie … her_powers
Bahá’í ties to other powers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Opponents of the Bahá’í Faith have claimed that the religion has had ties to other powers. During it’s early years, the Bahá’í Faith and its predecessor, the Bábí religion, experienced growth in Persia. This growth caught the attention of the government and the ecclesiastical leaders in the country,[1] who began searching for ways to stop the growth of the religion, which they saw as a threat to their power and authority.[2] The resistance stems from a variety of Bahá’í teachings which challenge traditional Islamic belief, including principles that call into question the need for a priesthood, and the entire Shí‘i ecclesiastical structure.[3] In addition to government and clergy-led persecution of the Bahá’ís, Iranian government officials have claimed that Bahá’ís have had ties to foreign powers, and were agents of Russian imperialism, British colonialism, American expansionism, Zionism, as well as being responsible for the policies of the previous Shah of Iran.[4] These statements toward the Bahá’ís are based on misconceptions,[5] and have had no basis in historical fact.[6][7] … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baha’i_ties_to_other_powers
