Apartheid Geometry in the Baha’i Faith

Introduction

When George Floyd, a black American, lying on the hot asphalt of the street in Minneapolis, USA, from a tight throat under the boot of an American policeman and a scratched, sorrowful, and pleading voice, said: “I can’t breathe!” the pages of apartheid history turned as if a series of events in the forefront of human history had unfolded in the same manner! Yes! Racial apartheid! Racial discrimination and the segregation of people based on skin color and natural genes!

Then George Floyd’s cry resonated in the streets and squares of cities and states across America and gradually in some European countries, intertwining and turning into a serious and widespread protest against racial apartheid.

This oppressed cry moved millions of free people to tears, regret, and astonishment. Brutal and violent racial apartheid not only disgraced the political system of America but also led to cries for the elimination of racial discrimination in the structures associated with such a system. Because racial apartheid is not only limited to South Africa (during the apartheid era) and the illegitimate regime of Israel, rather, it is rooted in the thoughts of emerging ideologies born out of colonialism, such as the Bahá’í Faith, the Bahá’í community, and its organizational structure. In this article, we aim to critique several apartheid aspects within the Bahá’í Faith.

 

Apartheid in the Baha’i Faith

Some thinkers within the Baha’i Faith have vocally expressed their objections to the central Baha’i organization, the Universal House of Justice, regarding the issue of apartheid within the Baha’i Faith. They mistakenly perceived the Baha’i community as being based on “the principle of the independent investigation of truth,” “free thinking,” and “modernity,” and thus, without considering the organizational structure, they raised their critical thoughts and questioning ideas about apartheid within the Baha’i Faith. In reality, the administrative system, political structure, and ideological framework of apartheid within the Baha’i Faith were challenged.

The apartheid of the Universal House of Justice and its power reacted harshly, putting a knee on their necks, and exerted so much pressure through administrative expulsion, spiritual excommunication, social isolation, life threats, and restriction of relationships that it completely darkened and narrowed the path of free thinking within the Baha’i community. (1)

This behavior is derived from the apartheid-like conduct of Baha’i leaders. Abbas Effendi, the second leader of the Baha’is, during his travels to Europe, Africa, and America, in a speech, defined the boundary between humans and animals based on two apartheid beliefs and racial distinctions as follows: “Just the Baha’is are human and non-Baha’is are all animals. The civilized animal like European and Frances and wild animals like African.” (2)

In this pre-designed scenario of apartheid within the Baha’i Faith, ‘Abdul-Baha does not act alone. He usually attributes his possessions to a father whom he calls the founder of the Baha’i Faith! Mirza Husayn Ali Nuri also explicitly lays the groundwork for the geometry of racial apartheid in his behavior and speech.

It is worth noting that apartheid within the Baha’i organization is not limited to racial discrimination alone, but Baha’i leaders themselves were the founders of an apartheid framework. The scope of this geometric apartheid charter is today formalized in an organization called the Universal House of Justice and is worth contemplating.

Next, we will address other aspects of this apartheid framework in the words and actions of Baha’i leaders and then the Universal House of Justice.

 

Racial Apartheid

Apartheid means segregation. The Baha’i Faith not only believes in racial discrimination but also practices human discrimination. It defines only Baha’is within the circle of humanity and refers to non-Baha’is of any nationality or ethnicity as animals. In the book “Badi” on page 140, the leader of the Baha’is, Mirza Husayn Ali Bahā’u’llāh says: “Whoever turns away from the Baha’i Faith is not human.”

Mirza Husayn Ali Nuri refers to non-Baha’is as pebbles of the earth:

“My friends are the pearls of [this] order and all others are earthly pebbles …”(3) This demarcation in the words of the Baha’i leader continues to the extent that with one sentence, he invalidates the entire population of the earth and reaches the peak of insult, blaming parents for their child’s failure to become a Baha’i: “Whoever has the enmity of this servant (meaning Bahā’u’llāh) in his heart, certainly Satan has entered their mother’s bed.”(4)

Can such a discriminatory model of apartheid in the Baha’i Faith ensure the survival of the human race on earth?

 

Economic Apartheid

Economic apartheid means economic discrimination and inequality in access to resources and economic opportunities.

This apartheid in the Baha’i Faith refers to a situation where Baha’is, due to various factors such as race, gender, or economic status, are unjustly deprived of access to resources and economic opportunities. This discrimination can occur in various fields such as employment, education, housing, migration, organizational and promotional positions, leading to deep economic divides within the Baha’i community.

In such conditions, deprived Baha’is not only lack equal opportunities for individual and family economic advancement but also face structural and organizational barriers of apartheid within the Baha’i Faith, making their efforts to escape poverty and inequality more difficult.

Financial laws in the book “Aqdas” and the “Ganjīniy-i ḥudūd wa aḥkā,” such as dowry and inheritance division within families between sisters and brothers, the inheritance of the eldest son and teachers, the inheritance share of the Universal House of Justice, and organizational structures in the economy of a family are examples of economic apartheid imposed by Baha’i leaders on their followers.(5)

Some factors that reinforce this apartheid in the Baha’i Faith include:

1. Lack of fair laws in the texts of Baha’i leaders and the Universal House of Justice.
2. Lack of an independent supervisory body for the distribution of wealth and dollar incomes of the Universal House of Justice within the Baha’i community.
3. Lack of publication of financial reports of various hierarchical levels of the Baha’i organization and lack of accountability to Baha’is’ questions.
4. Ignoring the future generations of Baha’is in common financial and economic benefits.
5. Lack of sustainable development in the distribution of wealth and economic opportunities among Baha’is worldwide.

 

The Safe Haven of Economic Apartheid in the Bahá’í Faith

To downplay the issue of economic apartheid within its system, the Bahá’í administration established the Economic Development Center in 1983 to utilize various methods and resources to achieve its organizational goals. In fact, the economic program in the development organization, by excluding the principle of propagation, has not only made the Baha’i figures popular but also seized the economic opportunities of communities in favor of the organizational goals of the Universal House of Justice. Here are a few examples of them: (6)

1)Ideological Propaganda and Education:

Promoting the Ruhi teaching system, strengthening Baha’i media, and producing daily and weekly content, as well as holding virtual sessions for Baha’is on various educational, cultural, nutrition, health, and other topics, all serve to engage Baha’is in ideological matters. This leads them to follow the economic directives of the Universal House of Justice without question, based on the justification of Baha’i leaders’ statements.

For example, participation in donations is waived for Western Baha’is. Or, wealthy individuals can commit adultery by paying a fine (19 mithqals of gold) to the Universal House of Justice. Therefore, the ignorance of Baha’is can advance the organization’s goals in economic apartheid. (7)

Additionally, the existence of publications such as books, magazines, and official articles, as well as the production of radio and television programs to normalize this ideology within and outside the Baha’i community, are all targeted methods.

2)Social and Economic Activities:

The economic and social development programs set by the Universal House of Justice have enabled organized Bahá’ís to infiltrate various businesses in communities. Under the guise of charitable activities, establishing schools and hospitals, promoting scientific and consultative discourses on social issues, etc., they inject a kind of relative welfare into that community to prepare public opinion for the stage of “social recognition.”

In fact, by replicating this model by Bahá’ís present in a community, requests such as civil rights, the right to proselytize, and tax exemptions are directed towards the heads of that region.

Therefore, the goals of the Bahá’í organization are achieved by bypassing apartheid in the Bahá’í Faith and without creating sensitivity for the security system of that region, in a popular and social manner. This has also led various segments of society to view Bahá’ís as useful and serving members of the community. Consequently, that society loses its aversion to the unconventional thoughts and beliefs of the Bahá’í Faith. This removal of aversion can continue to such an extent that the mentioned society, in a cultural transformation, will have no intellectual and defensive weapon among its thinkers against the injection of new cultural content. Naturally, at the end of this process, we will witness a cultural shift towards the Bahá’í Faith.

 

Scientific Apartheid

Apartheid in the Bahá’í Faith manifests through scientific discrimination in educational opportunities among Bahá’ís, access to Bahá’í research and educational resources, filtering the level of access to Bahá’í texts among different classes of the Bahá’í community, and the scientific censorship of books by Bahá’í missionaries, writers, and even leaders by the Universal House of Justice. These are examples of this apartheid structure.

1-Access to All Major Bahá’í Leaders’ Books:

Creating equal opportunities for all Bahá’ís without regional growth filters, or Eastern and Western biases, and racial prejudice allows them to independently study Bahá’í writings and uncover the inherent discrepancies within these texts.

2-Equal Educational Opportunities:

The Bahá’í organization has not standardized and equalized educational opportunities for the Bahá’ís around the world. Some are forced to engage in illegal activities to complete their victimization projects in universities and get expelled. Some lack the means and permits for migration. Some Bahá’ís cannot receive financial support for their education from the administration and are instead required to pay donations and Huqúqu’lláh.

However, some manage to bypass apartheid in the Bahá’í Faith and gain the right to study at the best universities, even securing academic memberships and teaching positions! Therefore, educational inequality significantly impacts the job opportunities available to these Bahá’ís.

Some believe that Ruhi books have overshadowed the texts of the leaders and the authenticity of the Bahá’í Faith. However, the Bahá’í organozation, in order to advance its promotional activities and to fill the gap of not having up-to-date and accurate scientific content for promoting its claims and attracting and retaining the youth of the Bahá’í community, is compelled to produce such uniform and abstract content. Although this content is far removed from the teachings of the Bahá’í leaders!

Apartheid in the Bahá’í Faith in various scientific subjects itself indicates an apartheid model and the scientific shortcomings of the Bahá’í leaders. Abbas Effendi (Abdu’l-Bahá) has issued theories in various scientific fields such as physics, chemistry, meteorology, and biology that astonish the principles and laws of science. For example, he believes that light in convex and concave mirrors converges at one point! (8) Or that creatures inside fruits are spontaneously generated! (9) And elsewhere, he introduces carbon dioxide as the element of life for organisms! (10)

Undoubtedly, he inherited such sciences from his father, the leader of the Baha’is, Mírzá Husayn-`Alí Núrí, who says in the famous book “Íqán”: If copper remains away from moisture for seventy years, it will turn into gold. (11)

Now, the collection of these scientific contradictions and apartheid in the Baha’i Faith is summed up with this sentence from the Baha’i leader that acquiring knowledge and science is not very important! Bahá’u’lláh says in the book “Iqtidárát”, page 111: “Whoever does not become a Baha’i is among the most ignorant people, even if he is knowledgeable in all sciences.”

 

Conclusion:

Now that we are witnessing a building with a dark facade and apartheid geometry in the Baha’i Faith centered around the Universal House of Justice, how can we expect the Baha’is to hope for equality and unity of the human world in the Baha’i community? Let alone the people of the world!

 

Notes:

1. Stan McGlynn, Ibrahim George Kheirulla, Denis Martin MacEoin, and Juan Cole are all tolerant Western Baha’i critics who were excommunicated from the Baha’i community by the Baha’i leaders or the Universal House of Justice.
2. Badaye-Al-Asar, vol 2, p.127
3. `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Mā’idiy-i āsimānī, vol. 4, pp.353
4. `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Ganj-i shāygān, p.79
5. And We have made the inhabited house and the specific garments for the male descendants, not the females, and the heirs.” `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Ganjīniy-i ḥudūd wa aḥkām (Persian copy), p.125.
6. 26 November 2012: “In response to a letter from a Baha’i regarding their level of participation in social issues, the Universal House of Justice replied: ‘When the Baha’i community was small, its participation in social welfare was naturally limited. In 1983, the Universal House of Justice announced that the growth of the Baha’i Faith necessitated greater participation in the public life of the world. The participation of Baha’is in social and economic development began more systematically through activities that varied in complexity.”’
7. In the Baha’i Faith payment of dowry for city men is 19 mithqal of pure gold, and for country men 19 misqal of silver. Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitābi Aqdas (paragraph 66), p.43; “God hath imposed a fine on every adulterer and adulteress, to be paid to the House of Justice: nine mithqáls of gold, to be doubled if they should repeat the offense.” Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitābi Aqdas (paragraph 49), p.38

8. “When the sun’s rays strike a concave and convex mirror, all of its light is focused at a single point.” Abdu’l-Baha, Ayame tese (Persian copy). p.324
9. “Some creatures are created in wombs, and some come into existence spontaneously, like the creatures that are in fruits.” Abdul-Baha, Makatib vol 2, p.24
10. “From the breath of animals, the element of water, which is hydrogen and carbon, is released, and this causes the life of plants.” ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Makatib, vol. 1, p.459
11. “For instance, consider the substance of copper. Was it to be protected in its own mine from becoming solidified, it would, within the space of seventy years, attain to the state of gold? There are some, however, who maintain that copper itself is gold, which by becoming solidified is in a diseased condition, and hath not therefore reached its own state. Be that as it may, the real elixir will, in one instant, cause the substance of copper to attain the state of gold, and will traverse the seventy-year stages in a single moment. Could this gold be called copper? Could it be claimed that it hath not attained the state of gold, whilst the touchstone is at hand to assay it and distinguish from copper?” Bahá’u’lláh, Iqan, pp.144-145 (Paragraph 165-166)