Bahai persecution in Islamic Iran

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Aug 3, 2022 at 18:28

Dear Dr Pipes,

I am attaching a link to a Barron's report about the persecution of the followers of Bahai faith in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran is a huge Islamic country with nearly 83 million people. Most of these people are Shia Muslims. The number of the adherents of the Bahai people in Iran is at most 3 Millions. We would normally expect that Bahai people will be left alone in Iran; there are too few of them to cause any harm to Islam. But Islam is in persistent danger. It feels threatened by Bahai's and so the Islamic government of Iran is trying to harass the Bahai citizens of the country. In this particular case, the houses belonging to the followers of the Bahai faith are being demolished .

By the way of contrast, the Bahai faith is well accepted in the democracies of the world. The Bahai Lotus temple in New Delhi is a world famous tourist attraction. There us a similar temple in Chicago. Both these temples and tens of others of the same kind stand with beauty and without harming anyone. I have had the privilege of visiting both these temples at different times without being a Bahai myself.

I consider it shameful that our world allows Islam to exist with its current manners. While reporting on the above persecution story, Barron's chose to blame the "Iranian" government but made only an indirect reference to Islam. I want to make the connection between Islam and Iran as explicit as possible. Iran is not bad because it is Iran. It is acting badly because it is Islamic. Muslims in Iran are not bad Muslims. They are just Muslims.

Honest criticism of Islam should be a worldwide activity. If we can critique Islam freely and honestly and if Islam registers this criticism, there will be no need for Charlie Hebdo. Until then let us persist with honest criticism of Islam.

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